The Doctor's Star Wars
by wickedmetalviking1990
Summary: a Star Wars/Doctor Who cross-over, based loosely on the YouTube parody video by Kelvington. The Ninth Doctor and Rose appear on Tatooine, with a distress message from Princess Leia concerning Operation: Skyhook. But they soon find out that there's more to this war than they had originally believed. AU, Multi-Doctor fic. Please review!
1. Distress Signal

**(AN: Here's a new story in many ways. It is my first attempt at a _Doctor Who_ fan-fic - most crashed and failed because I'm so new to Who and I start writing something before I realize that everyone has already written miles of fan-fic/novels about what I wanted to write and I know nothing about it_._ So I just up and decided that AU was the only way, and so I decided to make a _Star Wars_ crossover, based on the YouTube video by user _Kelvington_.)**

**(I don't own _Doctor Who_, _Star Wars_ or any of the characters. While the original idea was a parody by _Kelvington_, I've broadened the storyline a bit to make it something with a story and enjoyable [parodies are, but this is kind of a serious story: lol, as serious as _Who_ can get].)  
**

* * *

**Distress Signal**

Princess Leia Organa was hastily making her way down the white corridors of the _Tantive IV_. It was roughly 0200 hours and she had been woken by a distress call from Captain Antilles directly from the bridge. He had told her to meet her there immediately, because it was too delicate to be spoken of over the comm-channel. Though she didn't like being awoken in the middle of the night, she had lost many hours over the past few months. Operation: Skyhook was on the verge of failure and those involved lost many hours of sleep in the planning.

Onto the bridge she arrived, walking towards Antilles who was out from his seat.

"What's the situation, captain?" she said.

"We received a distress signal from the_ Liberty_," Antilles replied grimly. "An Imperial cruiser dropped out of hyperspace, they had to cancel the transfer."

The princess sighed. "This will complicate things. But it doesn't matter, we can adapt. Set course for Tatooine in the Outer Rim system."

"Yes, Your Highness," he nodded, returning to the cockpit, when suddenly the ship lurched violently. The running lights went out and on came the red alert lights and alarms.

"Princess, we're under attack!" Captain Antilles exclaimed.

"Get us out of here!" she ordered. "Quickly, before they identify us!"

Outside the viewport, the stars wheeled to one side as the bow of the _Tantive IV_ moved into position for the jump to hyperspace.

"Incoming message," Antilles stated. He clicked a button on the dashboard and the authoritative voice of an Imperial officer came over from the other end.

"Unidentified vessel, this is the Imperial Star Destroyer _Devastator_," the voice on the other end began. "Power down and prepare to be boarded. Our sensors indicate that several transmission from Rebel spies were received by your vessel at 0100..."

The stars stretched out into lines before exploding into mottled lines of blue and white. The _Tantive IV_ was now safely in hyperspace. Well, 'safely' was definitely a relative term.

"We're not out of the woods yet, captain," Princess Leia sighed, once the alarms went off deep within hyperspace.

"I agree, Your Highness," he said. "What happens now? We're going ahead with the plan, but they can trace our jump-route and follow us to our destination."

"I know, I know," the Princess replied, her countenance falling. "It seems our mission has failed. Unless..." She paused for a moment.

"Your Highness?" Antilles asked.

"Unless I can get the message to him once we're out of hyperspace," she said. "Come with me."

With Antilles in tow, the Princess made her way to the conference room just behind the Bridge. She pressed a button on the screen, then inserted a thin, gray storage disc into the side of the machine. Lines of _Aurebesh_ text flashed across the screen, along with schematics of a large, spherical object with an indentation in the upper hemisphere.

"What are you doing?" the captain asked.

"I'm making a copy," she said. "The one on the ship's computer banks is getting sent to a second source and then erased."

"Wait, _two_?"

"Yes, captain."

"But where is the other one going?"

"My father told me of another friend of his," the Princess began. "If I couldn't get the plans to General Kenobi, he told me I could trust him."

"Is he another Jedi?" asked the captain. "But weren't they all wiped out?"

"So they say," Princess Leia nodded. "But this one isn't a Jedi."

"What is he, then?"

"It would take a while to explain, captain," she said, as she pressed a few buttons on the screen. The text flashed across the screen, indicating that her transmission was successful.

_If you're out there, Doctor,_ she thought. _W_e_ need your help_.

* * *

Sunrise over Anso was always such a beautiful sight. The ocean planet had a series of rings, asteroids of a planet that had once been made of various precious gems. Anso's sun, while not much older than that of Earth's sun, shone brilliant golden light through the blue, red and violet in a brilliant light show that no Earthbound telescope would ever see for another five thousand years.

And here, just a thousand miles from Anso's surface, Rose Tyler was the first human to witness the morning rebirth of this galactic rainbow. She sat in the open door of the TARDIS, the blue police box that was the time machine and space ship of her friend and protector, the last of the Timelords, the Doctor, watching in awe as the sun illuminated the tiny crystals of ruby, sapphire, amethyst and ice locked in perpetual orbit over the planet.

"Oh, it's beautiful!" she exclaimed, wholly awed by the spectacle of light and color.

"Isn't it?" the Doctor said, leisurely walking towards the door of the TARDIS and taking a seat next to her. "I remember coming here, shortly after..." He sighed, hanging his head.

"After what?" Rose asked, turning to the Doctor in curiosity.

"After the war," he replied. "Imagine going through all that hell, losing faith in your own people and in every good thing in the universe, and then suddenly the first thing you see after the war is this." He gestured to the beautiful display outside the door of the TARDIS. "Serene, peaceful, beautiful. You realize that there's still some beauty, some wonder left in the universe. Makes you appreciate what you're fighting for."

"It's amazing," Rose said, meaning the sunrise. For a moment, she laughed, clear and jovial.

"What?" the Doctor, eager to forget the past and divulge in whatever made Rose laugh so gaily.

"Oh, it's nothing," she sighed. "It's just that, well, traveling with you is always so amazing and terrifying. Sometimes, it's like trouble follows us wherever we go and we're one step away from it all coming down on our heads. I never thought there'd be moments like these, when..."

The Doctor turned his head immediately towards a noise coming from one of the consoles of the TARDIS. Up he went and practically jogged the rest of the way to the main console at the center of the huge room. Rose, sensing that some mayhem was on the horizon, closed the door of the TARDIS and followed after him. Inside, it was much bigger than the exterior suggested it could be.

"Doctor, what is it?" Rose asked, as the Doctor busied himself at the console, seemingly oblivious of her entreaties.

"Incoming distress signal," the Doctor replied, without taking his eyes off the console. "But...this can't be! I told them not to contact me!"

"Wait, who? Who are you talking about?" a perplexed Rose queried.

"It looks like we'll have to cut our trip back home a bit short," the Doctor explained, as he pulled down a level and the transparent pylons in the center of the TARDIS began moving up and down. The sound of the ship's engines whirring was now humming in and out as they made their way through space and time.

"Where are we going?" Rose asked.

"A place you haven't seen," the Doctor said. "A very old galaxy halfway across the universe." He turned to the view-screen on one of the TARDIS' readouts, a smile on his face.

"Two thousand and five years into the past."

* * *

**(AN: Short and sweet, and just enough to get your attention.)**

**(As far as which Doctor you saw, it's the Ninth Doctor [for now]. So far, I've only seen "The Parting of the Ways" [it was the first _Who_ I ever saw, but not the first Doctor I ever saw], so I would dearly love some reviews by you seasoned Whovians, especially in helping me accurately depict Nine [as I call him].)  
**


	2. Sand

**(AN:)  
**

* * *

**Sand**

In a few short moments, the engines of the TARDIS whined down to a halt. The Doctor immediately ran to the door and swung it open.

"Fantastic!" he exclaimed.

Rose, eager to see what new place they had arrived at, ran up to his side and suddenly found herself blinking. She never thought the interior of the TARDIS was so dark, and yet, as she looked upon this strange new world, she got a whole new definition of the word 'too bright.'

Stretched out before them, as far as the eye could see, was sand. Nothing but sand. Hills upon hills of sand, oceans of sand. The sky, in contrast to the golden white sands, was blue and cloudless. But the sun was shining so bright and hotly that she could feel the heat, even through the walls of the TARDIS.

"There's sand everywhere!" she stated.

"Exactly," the Doctor stated, then, without another word, pulled his sonic screwdriver from out of the pocket of his black leather jacket and stepped out of the TARDIS.

"But I don't get it," Rose said, following slowly after him into this strange new world. "This isn't Cardiff."

"No, it isn't," the Doctor continued, without turning to look at her. "This is a little backwater planet called Tatooine."

"Is it all sand?" she asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," he replied. "Rock and sand. They say there used to be an ocean here, millions of years ago. The suns evaporated all the water."

"'Sun', don't you mean?" she asked.

"Nope, 'suns'," he replied. "There's two of 'em."

"Two suns?" Rose asked in disbelief. "Is that why it's so hot?"

"Exactly," the Doctor replied. "Almost impossible to dredge out life in this part of the galaxy, and yet people stay here, trying to make it as best they can."

"Who all lives here?" Rose asked. "Or _can_ anything live on a world with two suns?"

"Yeah, people do live here, though it's hell," he began, coming to a halt about four meters away from the door of the TARDIS. "Farmers for the most part."

"What do they farm out here?"

"Moisture," he replied. "The way they say it, there's moisture lurking just a few meters beneath the surface, and out here, water's priceless. So there's always a few sorry sods out on the dunes, farming for moisture. Of course, they have it the roughest. Yield isn't always good out here, not to mention the Sand People."

"Sand People?" Rose asked with a chuckle.

"Tusken Raiders, the locals call 'em," the Doctor continued. "Nomads, very very hostile."

Just then, the whooshing sound of the TARDIS' engines being activated were heard. The Doctor and Rose turned about quickly, but all too late. The TARDIS was materializing into thin air before their eyes, and in a moment, it was gone.

"No!" the Doctor shouted, running towards the fading TARDIS in vain, trying to grab on before it disappeared. But he was just a fraction too late. It was gone.

"Doctor?" Rose asked, her voice uneasy.

"Damn!" he shouted, running his hands over his closely-shaven head in frustration. "It's gone. They took the TARDIS."

"Who?"

"I don't know," he sighed. "No one but me knows how it's operated. Anyone else who may know how is long dead."

"So we're stuck out here?" Rose asked incredulously.

"Yeah," he said. Then, suddenly, a smile split the sides of his face.

"What? We're stuck out here and you're smiling."

"Hold on a moment," he said, then pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pressed a button. There was a slight whirring noise, and then the Doctor's smile widened.

"This way, then," the Doctor said, turning one direction and walking off into the desert. Rose had little choice but to follow on after him.

* * *

"So, where are we going?" she asked.

"Civilization," the Doctor replied. "If my guess is correct, and it usually is, we're on the outskirts of the Dune Sea at the right time. We just need to find our way to civilization."

"But what about the TARDIS?" Rose asked.

"One thing at a time, Rose," the Doctor said. "Right now, we've got to get indoors. You humans know what too much solar radiation can do to your skin, eh?"

"Yeah, right." Rose nodded.

They walked on silence, with the Doctor looking about at the trackless desert sands, searching for some kind of sign that was beyond Rose's comprehension. But there was nothing out there, nothing but sand and more sand. An hour or more passed, and already Rose was sweating profusely. She shed her pink hoodie, wrapping it around her waist, until the Doctor told her to keep it on.

"But it's so bloody hot out here," Rose exclaimed.

"I know, and I feel it too," the Doctor replied. "But until we're indoors, we can't afford to lose our clothes. They're our only protection from massive skin-cancer. After all, two suns means twice as much sun burn and skin cancer developing twice as fast."

"Oh, right." Rose sighed in weary resignation.

On they went, until at last they found one tall hill on the edge of the horizon. To this one they went. Up and up they went, at an almost impossible climb. Each footstep was harder, since it felt like they weren't really going anywhere or making any progress. But progress they made and by and by, they had reached the top of the hill, both of them drenched in quickly evaporating sweat.

"Fantastic!" exclaimed the Doctor.

Out there, they saw that the sand dunes were starting to straighten out into long, flat plains of white sand. But on the horizon of the flat plains, they saw tiny white dots, like eggs half-buried in the sand. The light of the suns were glistening off tiny dots littering the land around the domes.

"What is it?" Rose asked.

"Civilization," the Doctor answered, a smile on his face. "Or the closest thing to it out here. Come on!"

It took them longer to get down from the giant dune than they had expected. Rose tripped once and went tumbling down the side of the dune. She was unhurt, but found the sand horribly uncomfortable and scorching hot.

"If it weren't so bloody hot," she said, as she got to her feet. "It would almost be like the beach."

They then made their way across the plain towards the half-buried dome. Once again, the desert was taking its toll on them. Rose was now filled with sand all over because of her tumble, and the Doctor was getting rather dusty himself: in fact, because his jacket was black, more sand showed up on it. The domes were starting to get bigger now, and they could now see that the tiny shimmering dots were metal spires, possibly as tall as trees, dotting the landscape around the domes. Far off in the distance, a dark shape could be seen disappearing into the horizon.

On they went, and soon they could see that the domes were adobe houses, half-buried in the sand. As they came closer, they became aware of a middle-aged man walking towards them with a weapon of some sorts in his hands, with the business end pointed at them.

"Alright, that's far enough now!" the man said.

"Oh my God, he's got a gun!" Rose whispered to the Doctor.

"Just stay calm and follow my lead," he whispered to Rose, then turned to the man with a smile on his face. "Hello. We're lost, can you tell us where we are?"

"You're on my farm, stranger," the man answered. "And I'd be pushing off double quick if I were you."

"Whose farm, though?" the Doctor asked.

"I'm asking the questions, stranger. Who are you?"

"This is Rose Tyler," he gestured to the young woman at his side. "I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor Who?"

"I _knew_ you were going to say that," the Doctor smiled. The farmer pointed the gun at the Doctor's face. "Alright, we come in peace. We're on our way to the nearest spaceport. Now would you put the gun down?"

Slowly the gun was lowered. "Sorry, but you gotta be safe around here," the farmer said. "There's Sand People, and those damn Jawas always stealing your droids, not to mention the other farmers and mad Old Ben Kenobi."

"Ben Kenobi?" Rose asked.

"Crazy old man living out beyond the Dune Sea," the farmer said. "But what about you? If you're going to the spaceport, Mos Eisley is your best bet. Where's your speeder?"

"Don't have one," the Doctor answered. "We came on foot."

"Damn, son, you wanna get yourself and this young girl killed?" the farmer exclaimed. "Come along inside, I'll see if we can get you out of here in the morning."

"Thank you!" Rose exclaimed. "Uh, I'm sorry, what was your name?"

"Lars," the farmer said. "Owen Lars. This is my homestead."

* * *

**(AN: So far so good, eh? Don't be afraid to review, I welcome them. And after all, if I need to portray Nine [or any of the others later on -wink-] accurately, how will I know if I'm doing it right if you experienced Whovians don't review? :D)**


	3. Runaway

**(AN: Omg, Kelvington reviewed my story!)  
**

**(Since it was a guest review, if you're reading this, Kelvington, let me just say that I enjoyed your videos, very well done. I've considered doing two stories based on both videos: this one is set in the original trilogy and the second in the prequel trilogy. Oh, by the way, thank you for posting that treatment in the review. It's a lot easier than scrolling through pages of comments on YouTube to find the original post [lol].)  
**

**(Here's new chapter, and I'll try to keep things less sluggish.)  
**

* * *

**Runaway  
**

Owen Lars led Rose and the Doctor into his house, which was, as the Doctor had predicted, subterranean for the sake of temperature. They waited for a while in an open-air pit that served as a kind of open-air patio for the house. Many rooms terminated from this center, and very small, prickly scrub-like shrubs grew on the lip of the pit.

"We're about to have dinner," Lars said. "I'll see if we have anything more to spare."

"Oh, I'm not hungry," the Doctor replied.

"Suit yourself. How about you?"

"Oh, yeah, sure." Rose said, her eyes more on the interior of the house. "Uh, Mr. Lars, what were those tall spires outside?"

"An off-worlder, eh?" chuckled Owen Lars.

"Yes," the Doctor answered.

"Moisture vaporators," he answered. "It's how we earn our livelihood."

"I see," Rose nodded, then suddenly bumped into something short and squat that made a 'gonk' noise. "Blimey!"

"Oh, hello!" the Doctor said to the square thing that was making its way out of the cramped hall.

"Beru," the old man said, as he walked into the kitchen. "Set out some extra food for one guest and tell Luke to come in from the garage."

A middle-aged woman responded, calling twice for one named "Luke." Owen led Rose and the Doctor into the kitchen, which had an opening into the main pit. The woman, whose name was Beru, pulled up two chairs for Rose and the Doctor. Owen sat at the chair nearest the opening, with Beru sitting opposite of him. Rose and the Doctor sat on the right side of the table, with the Doctor closest to Owen. Moments later, a young man, not much older than Rose, walked into the kitchen. He had sandy blond hair, but his skin was reddened by many years out in the suns of this planet. He was wearing a loose, white tunic and pants.

"Luke," Owen began. "These two are our guests. They're going to be staying for the night, and in the morning, they'll be on their way."

"Hi," Rose said, smiling to the young man as she waved at him. "I'm Rose."

"Hi," the youth replied, smiling back at her.

"And this is..." Owen began, but then remembered. "Oh, I don't remember your name."

"I'm the Doctor." finished the Doctor with a smile.

Luke nodded, then took his seat opposite Rose and the Doctor. Beru poured them all a blue liquid into white, plastic cups that sat at the table: even for the Doctor, who hadn't requested any. Rose looked at it suspiciously, but she saw that the Doctor drained his glass without hesitation, then placed it on the table.

"Blue milk," he said. "Comes from the Banthas."

"What's a Bantha?" Rose asked.

"You're kidding," Luke chuckled.

"No, I'm not, I'm what your father called..."

"Uncle," Luke said, somewhat grimly. "My aunt and uncle."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Rose said, then continued. "Your uncle said I was an off-worlder."

"Banthas are native to this planet," Luke began. "They're pretty slow and docile, but the Sand People use them, so they're not exactly a good sign. But the milk is the best stuff this side of Anchorhead..."

"Luke," Owen Lars interrupted, giving Luke a disapproving stare. The young man quieted down, then tucked into his food. About half-way through, he paused and spoke again.

"You know, I think that R2 unit we bought might have been stolen."

"What makes you think that?" Owen asked, not sounding very interested.

"Well, I stumbled across a recording while I was cleaning him," Luke began. "He says he belongs to someone called Obi-wan Kenobi." At this, Rose and the Doctor noticed that both Beru and Owen seemed to take a bit more of an interest into what their nephew was saying.

"I thought he might have meant Old Ben," Luke mused, then turned to Owen. "Do you know who he's talking about?" Owen grumbled in disagreement, but said nothing. "I wonder if he's related to Ben."

"That wizard's just a crazy old man," Owen stated firmly. "Tomorrow morning, I want you to take that R2 unit to Anchorhead and have its memory erased. That'll be the end of it, it belongs to us now." He went back to his meal, matter solved.

"But what if this Obi-wan comes looking for him?" Luke asked.

"He won't," Owen replied. "I don't think he exists anymore. He died about the same time as your father."

"He knew my father?" Luke queried, sounding suddenly interested.

"I told you to forget it!" Owen sternly reminded. They both guessed that this was a sore subject. "Your only concern is to prepare those new droids for tomorrow. In the morning, I want them up on the south ridge, working on those condensers."

"Yes sir," Luke conceded with a tone of defeat.

"Oh Luke," Owen added. "When you leave for Anchorhead tomorrow, be sure to take these two with you."

"Yes sir," the youth sighed.

"So, where are you from?" Beru asked the newcomers, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'm from London," she replied.

"I've never heard of that place before," Luke said. "Is it in the Outer Rim?"

"Uh, I'm not sure," Rose replied. "Uh..."

"Our ship landed in the Dune Sea," the Doctor continued. "But it was stolen while we went out trying to find where we had landed." He gave Rose a knowing wink on the side.

"Sounds like Jawas," Owen stated dryly. "They scavenge anything they can get their greedy little hands on. You two must have been pretty oblivious to let your ship get stolen, right out from under your noses. Usually Jawas just go for droids or scrap."

The only sound at the table was the clanking of utensils upon plates. Suddenly, feeling that the mood had shifted once again into a favorable atmosphere, Luke spoke up again.

"I think these new droids are gonna work out fine," he said aloud. "In fact, I...uh, was also thinking about our agreement, about me staying on another season." Once again, Owen Lars looked at his nephew as he was venturing into old territory they didn't want brought back up.

"And if these new droids _do_ work out, I wanna transmit my application to the Academy _this_ year."

"You mean the _next_ semester, before the harvest?" Owen asked.

"Sure, there's more than enough droids..."

"Harvest is when I need you the most," Owen replied. "It's only one season more. This year, we'll make enough on the harvest that I'll be able to hire some more hands and then, you can go to the Academy next year." Luke seemed defeated. "You must understand, I need you here, Luke."

"But it's a whole 'nother year!" Luke whined.

"Look, it's only one more season," Owen reasoned.

"Yeah, that's what you said when Biggs and Tank left," Luke sighed, getting up from the table.

"Where are you going?" Beru asked.

"Looks like I'm going nowhere," Luke replied, then walked off saying something about cleaning the droids. Once more there was silence at the table.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Owen said to the guests.

"Oh, don't mind us," the Doctor said, with an inappropriate grin on his face. "We'll be outta your hair in no time."

"Doctor, I think we should leave," Rose whispered. She then turned to Owen and Beru, thanking them for the food, as she and the Doctor left the kitchen. The couple were in the middle of discussing something while Rose and the Doctor made their way up to the top level through one of the passageways. Once they were out, Rose began to say something, but the Doctor cut her off.

"I know what you're going to say," he interjected. "And the answer is no."

"But he doesn't want to be here," Rose argued. "You saw it as much as I did. He's eager to leave his home and see the world. Can't we do this for him? Can't we take him with us?"

"First of all, Rose, in case you haven't noticed, we haven't got the TARDIS," the Doctor replied. "Secondly, we're two thousand years in the past. Certain things in this galaxy _have_ to happen. We can't interfere."

"But, Doctor..."

"Something else will draw him away from home," the Doctor finished. "We'll find our way off this planet that way."

* * *

It was now close to evening, and Rose was sitting in the pit, as finally the air grew cooler. Even though she was far away from home, and the TARDIS was missing, she wasn't afraid. She had the Doctor with her: whatever was going to happen, she knew she would be safe.

"Rose," the Doctor suddenly said, almost running down the steps.

"What is it?" she asked, fearing something was wrong.

"You've got to come up here and see this!" he said enthusiastically.

"See what?" she asked, running up after him as he went back up the stairs.

"This!" the Doctor exclaimed, as they were now both top-side.

"It's the sunset, so..." Rose began, but suddenly her words failed her.

"Yes, a _binary_ sunset." the Doctor finished.

Certainly enough, the western sky, a haze of violet and orange, cradled not one but two suns that were going down that evening. Both were now so low and so faint that they could be seen by the naked eye without causing permanent damage. The one nearest the horizon was orange, while the higher one was still a bright yellow.

"Fantastic, isn't it?" the Doctor asked.

"It's beautiful!" Rose exclaimed. "Could we stay out here for a bit? I mean, how many times do you get to watch two suns set?"

"We can watch," the Doctor said. "But don't go too far. I heard Owen Lars say something about Sand People out at night-time."

Rose crouched down, just a bit above the sand, with her knees bunched up almost to her chin, watching as the suns slowly went down. The Doctor stood by silently, not really looking at the sunsets or anything much: he just seemed to be staring out into the distance, it seemed.

"Not interesting, is it?" Rose asked. "I bet you see this sort of thing all the time."

"Hmm?" the Doctor asked, as though interrupted from thought. "Oh, yes, all the time. Still, it doesn't make this any less amazing."

Moments later, there was some commotion from one of the adobe buildings and out ran Luke. Behind him walked a tall thing that seemed to be metallic, but was covered in gold plating.

"Hey!" Luke said, seeing Rose and the Doctor. "Have either of you seen an R2 unit around here?"

"A what?"

"It's a droid," the Doctor said. "A meter tall, round, stocky, communicates in beeps and whistles."

"Uh, no," Rose replied.

"Nothing here," the Doctor added, shaking his head.

Luke sighed, then removed a pair of what looked like binoculars and began scanning the horizon. Behind him, to Rose's surprise, the golden thing spoke. It spoke in an upper class voice, somewhat metallic, that sounded a little bit concerned.

"That R2 unit has always been a problem," commented the golden thing. "These astro-droids are getting quite out of hand. Even I can't understand their logic at times."

The Doctor and Rose approached Luke, who was muttering something in frustration at his situation.

"Pardon me, sir" the golden thing interrupted. "But shouldn't we go after him?"

"It's too dangerous with all the Sand People around," Luke dismissed. "We'll have to wait until morning." He then turned to the others. "Hey, look, I'm sorry, but I can't take you into Anchorhead first thing in the morning. I gotta chase down that blasted R2 unit."

"Oh, that's alright, we'll go with you," the Doctor said, holding up his sonic screwdriver. "This might help track your runaway droid."

"Really?" Luke exclaimed. "Well, I don't wanna impose, but if there's anything you can do that might help, I'd be more than happy to take you with me."

"If he goes, I go with him." Rose said.

Just then, from the house, the voice of Owen Lars shouted at Luke that the power was about to be shut down for the night. To this, Luke said that he'd be in shortly, then sighed aloud.

"Boy, am I gonna get it!" he said. "You know, that little R2 unit's gonna cost me a lot of trouble."

"Oh, he excels at that, sir!" the golden thing added.

* * *

**(AN: Next chapter is where it's at, don't worry.)**


	4. Sand People

**(AN: Original title for last chapter, but changed it for certain reasons.)  
**

* * *

**Sand People**

It was sometime in the early morning, when Luke awoke a very sleepy and somewhat cranky Rose Tyler from where she had slept in the guest room of the homestead. The Doctor hadn't slept at all, and yet looked as cheery and energetic as the night before. After telling Beru Lars, whom Luke called "Aunt Beru", that he had a few things to do before he started his chores, Luke ran down to the garage and came up again with the golden machine walking behind him.

"Come on, 3PO," Luke said to the golden thing. "We're taking the landspeeder."

"Yes, Master Luke," the thing replied. Upon seeing the new-comers, it turned its nondescript humanoid face towards them. "Hello, I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations. How might I be of service?"

"So, what are you, then?" yawned Rose sleepily. "Some kind of robot?"

"Android would be the more precise term, mistress," C-3PO began. "Although, in many cultures, the phrase is shortened to the simpler term 'droid.' The exact point when this occurred..."

"Hey, Luke," Rose called over to the young man while the golden droid chattered on, oblivious that its listener wasn't listening. "C-3PO, how do you get him to shut up?"

"Like this," the Doctor said, reaching back behind the droid's head and pressing a button. The electronic voice deepened, then shut off, leaving a limp droid collapsing onto the Doctor.

"You found his off-switch?" asked Luke. "Can you show me how to do that later?"

"Later, yes," the Doctor said. "Right now, we have the other one to find."

* * *

The landspeeder, an XP-34 open-air hovercraft, was soon loaded up with the four of them and took off across the desert flats. The vessel seated two, so the Doctor and C-3PO sat on the back, clutching the dorsal propulsion turbine and hoping they would not slide off. The golden droid was operational again, but kept silent under order from Luke, who 'owned' him, as they guessed.

The flats and dunes of the desert soon gave way to rocky, gravely ground with several hills dotting the horizon. When they had started off, they had followed a trail of astromech treads that led off into the desert, but now the trail had disappeared. Luke had turned on the speeder's scanners, but was running into trouble. Suddenly, there was a mighty jolt as the speeder came too close to a large rock and swung upward as the repulsors kept the hull from taking damage.

"Oi!" the Doctor shouted. "Stop!"

"What?" Luke called out over the whine of the engines.

"We've got to stop!" the Doctor repeated. Slowly, the speeder's turbines came to a steady halt and the craft now hovered about a third of a meter above the ground. The Doctor was the first one out, scanning the rocks around them.

"Why are we stopping?" Luke asked, jumping out of the speeder.

"My sonic screwdriver fell out of my pocket when we hit that rock," the Doctor said. "I have to find it."

"Is it really that important?" Luke asked. "I mean, I gotta find R2 quickly before Uncle Owen has my hide for..."

"Trust me," the Doctor interrupted with a no-nonsense look on his face. "That screwdriver is _very_ important."

Without another word, he continued searching the rocks. At last, there was a loud oath heard and both Luke and Rose ran to see what had happened.

"It's broken," the Doctor said, holding his sonic screwdriver in one hand. "Well, it's in one piece, but there's something wrong with it."

"How do you know?" Luke asked.

"Do you have a weapon, Luke?" asked the Doctor. Luke ran back to the speeder and pulled out a long blaster rifle, similar to the one Owen had threatened Rose and the Doctor with when they had trespassed on his farm yesterday.

"You normally carry a weapon in your landspeeder?" Rose asked.

"Out here, what with all the Sand People," Luke answered. "You kind of need to."

The Doctor picked up his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the blaster rifle. There was a blue light, and a beeping sound, and then a crackling of power, sparks flew, and suddenly there stood a meter-tall holographic image of a feminine figure all clad in white.

_Help me, Doctor! You're my only hope!_ the figure said.

"What's that?" both Luke and Rose asked at the same time.

"That's her! The one from the message!"

"What message?" Rose asked.

"You remember dinner yesterday," Luke began. "R2 had a message that said he belonged to Obi-wan Kenobi, that's her! She's the one in the message, only she was saying 'Help me, Obi-wan Kenobi! You're my only hope."

"Who is she?" Rose asked, sounding a tad suspicious of seeing another woman, especially coming out of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.

"3PO said she was some passenger of importance on his last voyage, or something like that," Luke answered.

"Have you seen her before?" Rose asked the Doctor.

"No," he replied. For a moment, there was disbelief in his eyes, as though he were seeing something he knew better than to believe existed. Yet the moment passed, and he clicked off the image from his sonic screwdriver.

"Just who are you, Doctor?" Luke asked.

"I'm a Timelord," he replied.

"But what does that mean?" he continued. "And why would she send you the same message she gave to R2?"

"Wait, Doctor," Rose interjected. "I remember, before we landed on Tatooine, you said something about a message. Was that it, that whole 'Help me, Doctor, you're my only hope' thing?"

"Yes," the Doctor answered. He then stowed his sonic screwdriver back into his pocket. "But right now, let's find that droid of yours."

"No way, I want answers!"

"And you'll get them!" the Doctor said. "But this isn't the time and place for it. Now, let's go."

* * *

It took them a while to convince Luke to leave the matter, but in the end, it worked and they went on their way. Eventually, they _did_ find a reading of a droid on the scanner and followed it into a narrow canyon that steadily sloped upward. Just half-way up the hill, they saw what they were looking for: a meter-tall cylindrical thing with short, stubby legs and a domed head, white, silver and blue.

"There he is!" the Doctor said.

The landspeeder slowed down and Luke was the first to jump out, walking in front of the rogue droid. From the other side, C-3PO got off the speeder and walked towards the shorter droid as well.

"Hey, whoa! Just where do you think you're going?" Luke asked the renegade droid.

It responded with a series of beeps and whistles.

"Master Luke is your rightful owner now!" C-3PO responded angrily. "We'll have no more of this Obi-wan Kenobi gibberish." R2, the shorter droid, whistled at his golden counterpart. "And don't talk to me of your mission, either. You're fortunate he doesn't blast you into a million pieces right here!"

"It's alright," Luke assured the droids. Suddenly, the shorter droid started rocking back and forth and whistling in what sounded like tell-tale panic. Luke turned to 3PO. "What's wrong with him now?"

"There are several creatures approaching from the southeast," C-3PO translated with worry in his electronic voice.

"Sand People!" Luke exclaimed, running back to the speeder.

"Or worse," the Doctor added. "Rose, over here." He ran towards the edge of the canyon, where a portion of the cliff hung over the path, with Rose following quickly behind. Luke, meanwhile, led the droids up onto the cliff of the canyon.

"Wait, what are we doing down..." Rose began, but the Doctor shushed her.

"Shh! We can't interfere, not with what's going to happen."

"What's going to..." Rose began, but the Doctor placed his hand over her mouth.

But just then, the roar of some creature was heard overhead. Then the sounds of battle, and a battle cry that echoed across the canyon walls. Still they remained silent. Just then, two figures in sand-colored robes appeared, dragging Luke along them. Rose moved, but the Doctor placed his hand on her shoulder, trying to keep her from moving. The two creatures growled at each other, then ran back towards the speeder, where they proceeded to ransack it for whatever they were searching.

Suddenly, a sound was heard echoing across the canyon walls. It started out low, like a howl, then rose into a piercing screech like some kind of giant reptilian creature. There was a growling roar, and then three of the robed figures ran away. Another, clothed in a dark brown robe, walked towards Luke. The sound of R2 was heard, and the hooded figure spoke to him.

"Now," whispered the Doctor. He rose up from their hiding place, with Rose in tow.

"Hello there, old man," smiled the Doctor. "How's the boy?"

"Oh, don't worry, he'll be alright," the old man said, gesturing to Luke's body. The young man was starting to stir. "Rest easy, son." the old man said to Luke. "You've had a busy day. You're fortunate to be all in one piece.

"As for you, Doctor, it's been a long time."

"Nineteen years by your count, I think," the Doctor replied. "Although, surprisingly enough, I haven't got a clue, except what your name is..."

"Ben?" Luke asked, looking up at the old man. "Ben Kenobi? Boy, am I glad to see you!"

"The Jundland Wastes are not to be traveled lightly," Ben Kenobi said, lifting Luke up to his feet.

"Wait, what happened?" Rose asked.

"Sand People," Luke said, massaging the back of his neck. "I saw two of their Banthas further down the canyon."

"Three of them," the Doctor said. "I'm sorry I couldn't help."

"Tell me, young Luke," Ben said to the young man, sitting down with him on a nearby rock. "What brings you out this far?"

"This little droid," Luke said, pointing to nearby R2. "I think he's searching for his former master, but I've never seen such devotion in a droid before. Uh, he claims to be the property of an 'Obi-wan Kenobi'. Is he a relative of yours? Do you know who he's talking about?"

Ben Kenobi leaned back, muttering something to himself that only the Doctor could see.

"Obi-wan..." he said. "Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time: a _long_ time."

"I think my uncle knows him," Luke stated. "He said he was dead."

"Oh, he's not dead...not yet."

"So you know him?"

"Well, of course I know him, he's me." the old man gestured to himself. He then spoke again. "I haven't gone by the name of Obi-wan since, oh, before you were born."

"Well, then, the droid _does_ belong to you?"

"I don't seen to recall ever owning a droid," Obi-wan stated. "Very interesting." Another sound echoed in the hills, the roaring of one of those creatures.

"I think we better get indoors," the old man said. "The Sand People are easily startled, but they'll soon be back, and in greater numbers." He then turned to the others. "Are you coming?"

"Doctor?"

"I think we're forgetting someone," the Doctor said.

"Who?" Rose asked.

"3PO!" Luke exclaimed.

* * *

**(AN: New chapter coming up soon. Leave comments or questions in the reviews, I shall answer them. [Oh, and the krayt dragon sound that Obi-wan made is the one from the original version of _A New Hope_, not the ridiculous blu-ray version.)**


	5. Explanations

**(AN: This chapter is a bit altered, based mostly on _Adywan_'s Star Wars revisited, which is a bit more concise. There's also a bit of an explanation for all the British accents in Star Wars. See, that always bugged me, especially when Padme spoke with a British accent and _then_ her twangy non-accent in a pre-Imperial setting. You'll see my explanation.)  
**

* * *

**Explanations**

Somewhere out beyond the Dune Sea, they were sitting in Obi-wan Kenobi's hovel. Luke was busy tending to C-3PO. During the attack of the Sand People, one of them had knocked him down and his legs and head had disconnected from his torso. Rose and the Doctor sat opposite the old man, who was examining R2, whose full 'number' was R2-D2.

"Hey, Rose, can I ask you a question?" Luke asked.

"Sure."

"Where are you from?" he asked. "I mean, the only people I've heard speak like you and the Doctor have been old Ben."

"It's an older dialect," the old man said, turning away from R2. "Coruscanti, used during the glory days of the Old Republic as the language of learning. As I recall, it became mandatory to use that dialect when the Empire came."

"You're from an Imperial world?" Luke asked.

"No," Rose dismissed. "I'm from London."

"And you?"

"Gallifrey," the Doctor replied. "Although, some people have said I have a Northern accent. But then again, there _is_ a north in Gallifrey."

"Oh, right," Luke nodded, a bit perplexed.

"Now," Obi-wan said, turning to R2. "Let's see if we can't figure out what you are, my little friend...and where you come from."

"I saw part of a message he was carrying," Luke said. "I think the Doctor had part of it..."

"I seem to have found it," Obi-wan said, sitting down as the holographic image of the young woman appeared from the eye-piece on R2's upper torso.

_General Kenobi_, the woman began. _Years ago, you served my father in the Clone War, now he begs you to help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I'm unable to present my father's request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed. I've placed information vital to the safety of the Rebellion in the memory systems of this R2 unit, my father will know how to retrieve it. You _must_ see this droid safely delivered to him on Alderaan. This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Obi-wan Kenobi! You're my only hope!_

The image faded, leaving all of them looking on in silent realization of what they had been told. Luke was the first one to break the silence.

"You fought in the Clone Wars?" he asked Obi-wan.

"Yes," the old man answered. "I was once a Jedi Knight, the same as your father."

"No," Luke chuckled. "My father didn't fight in the wars, he was a navigator on a spice freighter."

"That's what your uncle told you," Obi-wan explained. "He didn't hold with your father's ideals, thought he should have stayed here and not gotten involved."

Luke sighed. "I wish I'd known him."

"He was the best star-pilot in the galaxy," Obi-wan reminisced. "And a cunning warrior. I understand you've become quite a good pilot yourself." Luke nodded. "And he was a good friend."

"What were the Clone Wars?" Rose asked.

"You gotta be kidding," Luke chuckled.

"No, really, I'm not."

"You mean you don't know?" Luke asked incredulously.

"Everyone in this galaxy knows about the Clone Wars," the Doctor began. "Even here on the Outer Rim. The causes are harder to discern: some say it was a group of separatists with grievances against the loss of democracy within the Old Republic, others say it was war-mongering 'cloners' who sold clone armies to the highest bidders, most of whom had aught against the Republic. Either way, there was a war, billions died, and when the dust finally cleared, the Old Republic and the Jedi were gone."

"Which reminds me," Obi-wan interjected, rising from his seat and walking over to a chest. "I have something for you, Luke. Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn't allow it." After rummaging through the contents of the chest for a while, the old man rose with a small, metal cylinder in his hands. "He feared you might follow old Obi-wan on some damn-fool idealistic crusade, like your father did."

"Sir," C-3PO said, turning over to his master. "If you'll not be needing me, I'll close down for a while."

"Sure, go ahead," Luke said, barely looking at the droid who turned himself off. His attention, along with that of Rose and the Doctor, was on the metal cylinder in Obi-wan's hands. "What is it?"

"It's your father's lightsaber," the old man answered, giving it to Luke. "This is the weapon of a Jedi knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster: an elegant weapon, for a more civilized age."

The blade sprang to life, a meter-long blue glowing blade of pure light that hummed as it cut through the air with every subtle moment of Luke's hand.

"Blimey!" Rose exclaimed, her brown eyes following the trail of the blade, as Luke swept it about here and there. Without taking her eyes off the blade, she asked another question: "How do the Jedi fit into the scheme of things?"

"For over a thousand generations," Obi-wan began. "The Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic...before the dark times...before the Empire."

By this time, Luke had shut off the lightsaber and sat down once more at old Obi-wan's side.

"How did my father die?" he asked, eager to finally hear a full answer.

Both Rose and the Doctor noted that Obi-wan looked extremely uncomfortable for a brief moment, before he answered at last.

"A young Jedi named Darth Vader," he said. "Who was a pupil of mine, until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father, and now the Jedi are all but extinct. Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force."

"The Force?" Luke asked.

"Now the Force is what gives a Jedi his power," Obi-wan explained. "It's an energy field created by all living things, it surrounds us, it penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together." The old man leaned in. "You must learn the ways of the Force, if you're to come with me to Alderaan."

"Alderaan?" Luke asked with surprise. "I'm not going to Alderaan, I gotta get home! It's late, I'm in for it as it is!"

"I need your help, Luke," Obi-wan insisted. "She needs your help. I'm getting too old for this sort of thing."

"He's right," the Doctor added.

"But, look, I can't get involved," Luke excused. "I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire, I hate it, but there's just nothing I can do about it right now!" He sighed. "It's all such a long way from here."

"That's your uncle talking," the old man said.

While they were talking, Rose stood up and made her way out of the hovel. On her heels came the Doctor.

"Rose?" he asked.

"I need answers, Doctor," she said. "And they're...busy in there."

"Alright, what do you want to know?"

"The truth about this 'Force' the old man was talking about," Rose began. "Is it some kind of religious nonsense?"

"Not nonsense, Rose," the Doctor shook his head. "The Force is about as real as anything."

"But what _is_ it?"

"That is a fantastic question!" exclaimed the Doctor. "What is the Force? The Whills asked us that question for ages, we told them to find out for themselves."

"Who are the Whills?"

"The Ancient Order of the Whills were the first beings in this galaxy," the Doctor began. "They were here when the Timelords found this world, and they learned the secrets of the Force from the Timelords. We left a Timelord-like race of humanoids, just like we had at every galaxy, and went on our way once we taught the Whills."

"Why?" Rose asked. "I mean, why share these secrets? I thought the Timelords didn't get involved."

"Normally we didn't," the Doctor added. "But there were more pressing dangers at that point in the universe, and the Whills were willing to learn. We left this galaxy in perfectly capable hands, and never had to send Timelords to this place to interfere."

"So what is the Force, then?" Rose repeated.

"The best definition one could give is what Obi-wan told Luke," the Doctor replied. "An energy field that serves as a connection to the life essence of the universe."

"What exactly does the Force do?" Rose asked.

"It can be harnessed to sustain life, to learn secrets, to protect the innocent: the Jedi refer to this as the Light Side. But, with everything, there is a dark side: it harnesses the Force for destructive, selfish ends, but at a horrible price: that is the Dark Side."

Just then, the door of the hovel opened and Luke walked out, with Obi-wan back in his hood and cloak and C-3PO and R2 following on behind.

"Wotcher, Luke!" Rose called out. "Where are you goin'?"

"Back home," he said. "Coming with me?"

* * *

**(AN: And there was a Whovian-explanation for the _Star Wars_ universe, as well as mentioning the Whills, which were part of the original drafts of _A New Hope_. Also a subtle nod to Timothy Zahn's description of the Clone Wars as well as the "official" prequel trilogy description and _Adywan_'s version of this scene. How did you like it?)**

**(I think Rose and the Doctor need more action, but that can't really happen until about Mos Eisley. If I'm lucky, I can get us there by the next chapter or two. Questions/reviews are very helpful, so don't be shy.)  
**


	6. Mos Eisley

**(AN: Compressed version, hopefully to get this story running along better.)  
**

**(The beginning part of this scene is slightly altered to make the Doctor a bit more important, but the rest is by the book, so don't worry.)  
**

* * *

**Mos Eisley**

About half-way back to the homestead, they saw a column of smoke rising up from the horizon. As they made their way toward the smoke, they found a giant metallic behemoth, which Luke designated as a Sandcrawler, which had apparently been attacked. All around were the bodies and cloaks of diminutive creatures that, as Luke said, were Jawas. The speeder was shut down and they got out to examine the wreckage.

"What the hell happened here?" Rose asked.

"An attack," the Doctor stated.

"What should we do?" Luke asked.

"Burn the dead," Obi-wan said. "It is the easiest way to return their bodies to the living Force."

"Alright, uh, 3PO, R2, can you two get to work on making a bonfire while I search the ruins?"

"As you wish, sir," C-3PO nodded. The two droids then went about their business, with C-3PO carrying the bodies of the dead Jawas over to a pile which R2 had ignited with a shock-probe that extended from his torso on a thin metal arm. Luke, meanwhile, was scanning the debris with the Doctor, Rose and Obi-wan.

"So, what are Jawas, Doctor?" Rose asked.

"Short buggers," he said. "Scavengers, I think Owen said something about them."

Just then, Luke paused at the ruin of a red R2 unit that was lying on its side, a blackened spot on the top of its domed head.

"Hey, I know this droid," Luke said. "Owen tried to buy it but the motivator shot." He looked up at the ruin of the Sandcrawler. "These must be the same Jawas that sold us R2 and 3PO."

"Who could have done this?" Rose queried again.

"It looks like the Sand People, alright," Luke replied, picking up one of their weapons. "Look, there's gaffi sticks, Bantha tracks, it's just, I never heard of them hitting anything this big before."

"Maybe because it _isn't_ them?" the Doctor suggested.

"Well caught, Doctor." Obi-wan congratulated.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked.

"These tracks are side-by-side," Obi-wan said, gesturing to the Bantha tracks in the sand. "Sand People always ride single file to hide their numbers."

"And look at that Sandcrawler," the Doctor added, walking over to the giant, derelict machine. "See these scorch-marks on the treads? I don't think the Sand People would have made such an accurate shot."

"Yes, Doctor," the old man said. "This was not done by the Sand People, Luke, but we are meant to think it was. I deem that this was orchestrated by the Empire: their tracks give them away, as do their choice of targets on the Sandcrawler. Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise."

"Which is quite a laugh, really," the Doctor said aside to Rose. "If you ever ran into one."

For a moment there was silence, then Luke turned to look at the droids.

"If the Empire traced the droids here," he began. "They might have learned who they sold 'em to, and that would lead them back...home!" Without another word, and against Obi-wan's protests that it was too dangerous, Luke ran back to the landspeeder and took off.

"You know what he'll find," the Doctor said, turning to the old man.

"And yet I let him see the truth?" Obi-wan replied.

"Why?" Rose asked.

"It was not of my doing," the old man said. "But such things are commonplace for those whom the Empire deems their enemy."

"Wait, what's he going to find?" Rose asked, turning back to the Doctor.

"His aunt and uncle, dead." the Doctor answered grimly.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "B-But this morning, did you know? That they would end up dead?"

"Yes," he returned.

"And you just let them die?"

"What could we do?" the Doctor asked. "You know that I can't interfere with fixed events in time. Their deaths are a fixed point, it _has_ to happen."

Half an hour later, the speeder appeared on the horizon. Luke got out, his head hung and a forlorn look on his face. He walked up to Obi-wan first, who spoke to him something that the others couldn't hear.

"What are they saying?" Rose whispered to the Doctor.

"Luke's making up his mind," the Doctor answered. "He's going to leave his home and go into the stars. And we have to go with him."

"Why? Is the TARDIS there?"

"I don't know, but we should go with them."

Luke then turned away from Obi-wan and walked towards Rose and the Doctor.

"I, uh," he began. "I'm gonna leave this planet, I'm going with Obi-wan to Alderaan."

"Okay, we'll go with you." Rose said. The Doctor said nothing, his face grim and set.

"You wanna help the Rebellion?" Luke asked.

"Yeah," Rose smiled. "Of course, right, Doctor?"

He nodded, but by the look she saw in his blue eyes meant that something grim awaited them on Alderaan.

* * *

"Mos Eisley spaceport," Obi-wan said, as they looked down at the sprawling town in the valley below. "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious."

The others climbed into Luke's now crammed speeder as they shot down the hill and entered the town of sand-colored adobe structures. They were not but a few blocks down the street when they came to a road block. Before them a small squadron of humanoid figures in white armor carrying firearms stopped their path. One walked alongside the left-hand side of the speeder, where Luke was sitting at the wheel. Behind was the Doctor, fingering something in one of the pockets of his sand-blasted black leather jacket. On the right-hand side was Obi-wan, with Rose behind him and the two droids on the back of the speeder.

"How long have you had these droids?" one of the white-clad soldiers queried.

"About three or four seasons," Luke responded.

"They're up for sale, if you want them." Obi-wan added.

"Let me see your identification," barked the soldier.

Suddenly, the Doctor leaned forward, taking a small identification pad out of his pocket and flipping it open.

"We have an appointment with Jabba the Hutt," the Doctor said. "He's in Mos Eisley this afternoon, he doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"Move along," the soldier ordered, waving them onward.

Luke hit the accelerator and the speeder shot off into the depths of the town. It finally came to a halt outside a small, out-of-the-way cantina frequented by space pilots. While the speeder was coming to a halt, a Jawa walked over and began stroking the side of the speeder.

"I can't abide those Jawas," C-3PO stated with disdain. "Disgusting creatures!"

Luke got out of the speeder and shied them away, while the others climbed out one after the other. While old Obi-wan was climbing out, the Doctor gave him a disapproving look.

"I can't believe how we got by those troops!" Luke exclaimed. "I thought we were dead!"

"Wait, who were those blokes in white armor?" Rose asked, pointing back the way they had come.

"Imperial stormtroopers," Obi-wan replied. "Soldiers of the Empire."

"But I still don't understand how we got past them!" Luke repeated.

"And I can't believe what old Obi-wan was about to do," the Doctor added.

"It is a passive use of the Force," the old Jedi responded.

"It's an encroachment on freewill, and I won't have it while I'm here," the Doctor firmly stated. "Everyone deserves a second chance, even our enemies."

"And what of the Daleks?" Obi-wan asked.

"Get out of my head!" the Doctor stated slowly, with anger simmering just beneath his otherwise restrained tone.

"So, what are we doing here?" Rose asked, gesturing to the cantina.

"Looking for a pilot to take us to Alderaan," the Doctor responded, not taking his eyes off Obi-wan.

"Watch yourselves, Luke, Rose, Doctor," Obi-wan replied with a wiry smirk on his face. "This place can be a little rough."

"I'm ready for anything," Luke said, following Obi-wan into the cantina. Behind came Rose and the Doctor, then 3PO and R2.

"What was wrong with what he was doing?" Rose whispered.

"A Force trick to implant thoughts or suggestions into weak-minds," the Doctor replied.

"But wouldn't that help us?" she replied.

"That particular mind trick is a Sith technique," the Doctor added. "It robs people of free will, it dominates the minds of others." He sighed, as they passed through the shadow of the cantina door.

As they stood on the threshold of the cantina, staring into its darkness, the Doctor held out his arm as Rose followed up on behind him. There were all manners of aliens, whose names, planets and species were so diverse and numerous that only a Timelord could have possibly named them all. There were many booths scattered about the edges of the pub, with a bar with several patrons already gathered about it. The Doctor saw only three humanoid women, aside from Rose: two were at the bar counter, opposite a large Mantid, and another seemed to be indulging one of the patrons at the booths in an erotic dance.

At the Doctor's left, Luke walked down the steps into the pub while behind him, C-3PO and R2 brought up the rear. Immediately, there was a hum as a wall circuit buzzed with a blue light.

"Hey!" shouted the bartender, pointing in Luke's direction. "We don't serve their kind here."

"What?" the bewildered Luke asked.

"Your droids," continued the bartender. "They'll have to wait outside, we don't want them in here."

Luke turned to C-3PO and muttered to him to wait outside. As the hubbub in the cantina seemed to be dying down, with 3PO and R2 on their way out, the Doctor leaned over to Rose and whispered in her ear.

"You might want to wait outside as well."

"What!" she began.

"Shh!"

"What?" she whispered.

"This is a dangerous place, Rose," he cautioned.

"I'm eighteen," she replied. "It's not like I haven't seen the inside of a pub before."

"Look around," he added. "This isn't exactly a safe place for women."

"What, they never heard of suffrage?"

"Rose!"

"Oh, bugger," she sighed, then added with a hopeful smile. "Will you at least buy me a drink?"

"We're not here for drinking," he assured her. "We're here to find a ship."

"Never thought you'd be such an old nanny."

"In case you haven't noticed, we're not in London. This isn't your average pub, now go outside and wait with the droids."

She gave the Doctor a rude gesture, to which he repeated again for her to wait outside. Rolling her big brown eyes, she walked back up the stairs and out of the cantina. Meanwhile, the Doctor looked across the bar and saw young Luke getting into a quarrel with a mean-looking humanoid and his Aqualish comrade. Suddenly there was a shout, and before the Doctor could move, the buzz of a lightsaber was heard and suddenly, the humanoid's arm was laying on the floor, hacked off from its body. Obi-wan shut off his blade and turned to Luke, who had been knocked down during the scuffle, while the tenants returned to their drinks. The Doctor, meanwhile, walked up to the bar.

"Oi! Wuher!" he said to the bartender.

"That's me," growled the middle-aged bartender, who had earlier told off Luke for bringing the droids in.

"A blue basilisk," the Doctor ordered.

* * *

Outside, in the heat, a grumpy Rose joined R2 and C-3PO by the landspeeder.

"Oh, mistress Rose," the golden droid greeted. "I thought you had gone in with the others."

"I had," she began. "But the Doctor said it was safer out here than inside."

Just then, the short droid let out a series of frantic whistles.

"Oh," C-3PO demurred. "I don't like the look of this."

"What, what is it?" Rose asked. The golden droid pointed down the street.

Just there, she saw two large lizard-creatures the size of lorries walking up towards the cantina. But it was not so much as the size of the creatures, nor their growling sounds, but who was riding them that made both of the droids and Rose more than concerned: stormtroopers. White-armored soldiers of the Empire coming towards them. Sure enough, they parked their creatures outside the cantina and began asking questions about some kind of disturbance.

_Dammit, Doctor, why didn't you let me stay inside?_

* * *

The Doctor was now following Luke and Obi-wan as they were being led by a two-meter-tall Wookie, one of the fur-clad behemoths of Kashyyyk, towards one of the booths. In the booth sat the rogue the Doctor had seen getting a lap dance earlier from one of the three women in the bar. He wore the clothing of a pilot, a blaster pistol in its holster at his side, and his best game face on his face.

"A Corellian," the Doctor said with a smile, taking a seat between Obi-wan and the tall Wookie, who had been introduced as Chewbacca, across from Luke. "Shoot first, ask questions later, eh?" The pilot gave the Doctor a sarcastic grin, then turned to old Obi-wan.

"Han Solo," he introduced. "I'm captain of the _Millennium Falcon_. Chewie here tells me you're looking for passage to the Alderaan system."

"Yes indeed," Obi-wan replied. "If it's a fast ship."

"Fast ship?" Han Solo asked. "You've never heard of the _Millennium Falcon_?"

"Should I have?"

"It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs."

"I hate to interrupt," the Doctor began. "Well, actually, no, I don't hate to interrupt. I'm the Doctor and I can interrupt if I please. But, captain, how is that possible?"

"Kessel Run's an eighteen parsec route from Kessel to the Si'Klaata Cluster," Han Solo replied. "I made it in twelve by passing pretty damn close to the Maw black hole Cluster, which is no mean feat, I'll tell you." He then turned to the old man. "I've outrun Imperial starships: not the local bulk-cruisers, mind you, I'm talking about the big Corellian ones: I think she's fast enough for you, old man. What's the cargo?"

"Only passengers," Obi-wan replied. "Myself, the boy, the Doctor, his companion, two droids and no questions asked."

Solo smirked. "What is this, some kind of local trouble?"

"Let's just say we'd like to avoid any Imperial entanglements." Obi-wan replied. The Doctor, meanwhile, was leaning back in his side of the booth with a wide grin on his face: his usual look in situations where smiles were considered out of place.

"Well, that's the real trick, isn't it?" the smuggler parried. "And it's gonna cost you something extra. Ten thousand, all in advance."

"Ten thousand?" exclaimed Luke. "We could almost buy our own ship with that!"

"But who's gonna fly it, kid, you?" Solo asked sardonically.

"You bet I could," Luke challenged. "I'm not such a bad pilot myself. We don't have to sit here and listen to this..."

But Obi-wan knew what he was doing and gestured for Luke to be quiet as he turned to Solo. "We can pay you two thousand now, plus fifteen when we reach Alderaan."

"Seventeen, huh?" mused Solo with an unreadable expression on his face. "Okay, you guys got yourselves a ship. We'll leave as soon as you're ready, docking bay 94." He then looked across the bar and stated. "Looks like somebody's beginning to take an interest in your handiwork."

"Damn!" exclaimed the Doctor under his breath.

"What?" Luke asked.

"I left Rose outside," he said. "Shouldn't have done that."

"We're going out there now," Obi-wan said, leaving the table with Luke. "I'm certain she is not harmed."

"How do you know?" the Doctor began.

"I can sense her presence just beyond these walls," Obi-wan said, lowering his hood back down over his face.

"Oh, right," the Doctor said, following them back up the stairs.

Outside, the old man was saying something to Luke about selling the speeder. The Doctor, meanwhile, found Rose standing outside with the droids, just as she had been when he left her.

"Well, did you find anyone?"

"Yes,"

"And?"

"We'll leave once they sell the speeder," the Doctor said. "In the meanwhile, come with me."

"Oh, so now I can come with you?"

"This isn't the time to be cheeky," the Doctor replied. "There's..."

"Stromtroopers," she finished. "Yeah, I saw 'em."

"Come on, then."

* * *

**(AN: Lol, fanboys galore! I had the Doctor make a reference to Corellians "shooting first" [cuz, obviously, Han shot first], and an explanation for the Kessel Run.)**

**(Also, I thought the Doctor wouldn't like the Jedi mind trick, since it does kind of rob you of free will. And, in case you were wondering about why Obi-wan knows about the Doctor and the Daleks, that...well, that's not for this story to tell. If you watch _Kelvington_'s prequel trilogy video, you might get an idea of where I'm gonna go with the next story [which will be prequel], but that's not for now.)  
**

**(Had lots of fun, now I'm gonna sing my ass off for my practice session and then come back and write up some more chapters, cuz I'm in a writing mood right now and you benefit greatly from it [please review!])  
**


	7. Alderaan

**(AN: I almost forgot to mention! In the last chapter, the part about Han Solo getting a lap dance was in the original draft of _A New Hope_, even in the novelization, but was cut from the movie. Obviously, it found its way back into the story through mine. Keep on the alert, for more OD [original draft], RV [revisited] and EU [expanded universe] content will be referenced or included in this story and the next one.)  
**

* * *

**Alderaan**

"Look at this," lamented Luke. "Ever since the XP-38 came out, they're just not in demand."

"That'll be enough," Obi-wan assured him.

They were leaving a speeder dealer, to whom Luke had sold his XP-34. He was of the belief that he would never be coming back to Tatooine, and so had no need for it anymore. Behind the young farmer and the old man walked Rose and the Doctor, with C-3PO at the rear, since his loco-motors weren't as far as human, or Timelord, legs, or even the treads of R2-D2, who out-"ran" all of them at the head of the group.

"Doctor, can I ask you something?" Rose asked.

"Go ahead."

"Why can't we hear what he says?" she gestured to R2.

"The TARDIS automatically translates whatever language you hear or see into English," he began. "But the TARDIS was stolen, so we can't hear what they say."

"That's unfortunate," she murmured.

They followed along as Obi-wan and Luke led them to the docking bays, where the _Millennium Falcon_ was said to be kept. All the while, however, the Doctor kept glancing back across his shoulder at a hooded figure that was following them just outside of reach.

"What is it?" Rose asked, as they passed through the doors of the huge, sand-colored hangar and walked down a flight of steps.

"We're being followed," the Doctor stated.

At the bottom of the stairs, the corridor opened upon a large, open-air docking bay with a huge vessel sitting upon its landing struts. It was wide, disc-shaped with plenty of rough edges and blast-scorches from old battles. Two large fins stuck out from the front of the vessel and off to the forward starboard-side was the cockpit.

"What a piece of junk!" exclaimed an incredulous Luke.

"She'll make 0.5 past light speed," Han Solo said, walking out from beneath his vessel. "She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts: I've made a lot of special modifications myself."

"Fantastic," the Doctor said, somewhat sarcastically, as though what Solo had said about 'special modifications' was certain to spell disaster.

"But," continued Solo. "We're a little rushed, so if you'll get on-board, we'll get out of here."

One by one they walked up to the starboard side of the ship. There a ramp led up into the side of the ship from the floor. Obi-wan and Luke went up first, followed by the Doctor and Rose.

"Well well well," Han Solo said with a somewhat less-than-innocent smile, as Rose passed him by. "What do we have here?"

"Rose Tyler," she replied.

"She's with me," the Doctor said, giving Solo his 'serious' look. Behind them, C-3PO and R2 brought up the rear.

Inside, they found the corridor from the boarding ramp branched off in two directions, both of them curving inward. The Doctor went down the one that wound to the right, and Rose followed on after him. They passed two more corridors, one branching off to the right, and the other on the left that led to a ladder that went both up and down the ship. The main corridor curved on until it terminated in a wide room with several storage crates on the far side. Closer to them was a computer read-out with a revolving chair next to it, and across from it a sofa with a black-and-white checked table sitting in the midst of its curve.

Suddenly, the sound of blasters discharging could be faintly heard down the hall. Then there were boots running up the landing ramp, then the whoosh of a door being shut in haste.

"Chewie, get us outta here!" shouted Han Solo from the corridor.

Immediately, the others made their way over to the sofa and sat down as the ship began to rock back and forth. Obi-wan, Luke and C-3PO sat down, while R2 planted his two 'legs' firmly in place. The Doctor and Rose, with nowhere left to sit, clang onto the walls of the ship as, far beyond in the rear, the engines started whirring up.

"Oh my!" exclaimed C-3PO. "I'd forgotten how much I hate space travel."

For one brief, nauseous moment, the passengers were jostled by the sudden movement of the ship as it pitched upward and gravity took its control of them. Then the artificial gravity of the ship kicked in and they were once again standing on their feet, though the ship was taking off at an almost 45 degree angle, leaving the space-port far behind them.

"Did we make it?" Rose asked.

"I will go to the cockpit and see if we've taken off," Obi-wan said, rising up from his place. Almost immediately, Luke was up and on his feet after them.

"Can we go?" Rose asked the Doctor.

"If you want," he replied. "Although, I should warn you, traveling in a star-ship is not at all like flying in the TARDIS. You're on your feet with the artificial gravity, but everything is spinning around you outside the view-ports."

"I'll take my chances," Rose replied, then walked out of the hold and down the corridor they had first come through. Several shaky moments later and Luke, Obi-wan and Rose came back into the hold. To be the more exact, Obi-wan and Luke were dragging Rose between them. Her head was lolling idly on its neck.

"What happened?" the Doctor asked, crossing the room over to Rose.

"Probably just nauseous," Luke said. "It's okay, it happened to me the first time in a Skyhopper." He and Obi-wan walked Rose over to the sofa, where she was deposited gently onto the seat. The Doctor immediately came to her side and, slowly at first, she began to recover.

"Rose?" he asked, hiding his nervousness very well. "Rose, can you hear me?"

"Doctor?" she sighed. "What ha...there was nothing, just space, and flashes of green, and then everything went spinning, oh..."

"Here, it's alright," the Doctor assured her.

Just then, the huge form of Chewbacca walked through the corridor into the hold and growled something. Rose, who had only seen the Wookie from the back, was suddenly struck by how large he was and her eyes nearly doubled in size.

"Can you give us a minute?" the Doctor replied, seeming to understand what the giant hairy thing was saying. "It's her first space-flight."

"No, I'm fine," Rose said, sitting up.

Chewbacca made a low, softer growl, then walked over to the other side of the room and pulled up a large cargo crate.

"What's he doing?" Rose asked.

"He wants you to move," the Doctor said. "He's going to play some kind of game and he needs the sofa."

"It's fine, really," Rose said, getting to her feet. She walked over to where the giant Wookie stood and said thank you. Chewbacca made some kind of response, but the Doctor did not translate it. Instead, he came to her side and knelt down next to her.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she repeated.

"Here, have this," he said. Reaching into one of his pockets, he pulled out a plastic cup filled with some kind of blue drink.

"What's this?"

"A blue basilisk," he replied. "Mandalorian rum and blue milk. Picked it up in the cantina for you."

"I thought you said we weren't going for drinks," Rose said with a smile.

"First thing you should learn about me," the Doctor replied. "I always lie. Besides, you went along with staying with the droids, might as well make up for it."

"Thanks, Doctor." Rose laughed.

* * *

Over the next few hours, the Doctor and Rose sat on the side while Chewbacca and the droids played some kind of holographic board game the Doctor called dejarik. Obi-wan had begun Luke's training as a Jedi and currently, the young lad was standing ready, eying a training remote the size of a coconut, blue lightsaber active and ready. While the training was going, Obi-wan took a seat on a nearby crate, a strained look on his face. At the same time, the Doctor had a grim look on his own face and placed a hand over his right heart.

"Doctor?" Rose asked. "What is it? What's wrong?"

He said nothing, but got up and left the room down a separate corridor at the farthest end. Rose, curious to know what had happened, followed on after him.

"What is it?" she repeated.

"It's just an old Timelord thing," the Doctor said, his voice strained. "I can feel disturbances in time, usually only slight ripples but this is massive. It's almost..."

"Almost what?"

"Like a fixed point has been made in time," the Doctor continued, a grave expression on his face. "This one's massive, almost like a chorus of voices crying out and then suddenly..."

"What happened?"

"Just what I knew would happen already," the Doctor said. "But I can't change it. It's a fixed point in time and if we change it, terrible things will happen."

"Like what?"

"The Reapers, for one," the Doctor said. "Or..._that_..."

"What's _that_?" Rose asked.

But the Doctor did not answer: instead, he changed the subject.

"Listen, Rose," he began. "This world is harsh and cruel. Humans are still fighting humans, just like a bunch of stupid monkeys. But you know of a better way, you can change all of this. The Rebel Alliance might not be perfect, but they don't put non-humans into concentration camps, they don't purge whole worlds just to make colonies for their supporters, they didn't execute over five thousand people across their jurisdiction based on a philosophical difference. There's hope for them, but not if they don't win this war."

"Doctor, why are you saying this?" Rose asked, her voice betraying the fear that was surmounting.

"I might not be there to hold your hand through this," he continued. "And if anything happens to me, you'll have to carry on. But you won't be alone, 'cuz you have Luke Skywalker, the first of a new generation of Jedi Knights."

"But-But you can't go!"

Suddenly, the Doctor's whole demeanor changed. His usual grim expression was replaced with an out-of-place smile.

"Well, that takes care of that, then!" he exclaimed. "Come along, we can't miss the fun."

They walked back into the main hold just as, while engaged with the remote, Luke took a training blast to the knee. Han, who was now sitting in the chair at the station across from them, laughed.

"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid." the smuggler smugly stated.

Luke shut off his lightsaber, then turned to Han. "You don't believe in the Force, do you?"

"Kid, I've flown from one end of this galaxy to the other," the Corellian replied. "I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything. There's no mystical energy field controlling my destiny, it's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense."

"I used to think the same way," the Doctor joined in. "And I've been farther than you have, captain."

"Good, then reason with these twerps," Solo gestured to Luke and Obi-wan.

"You misunderstand me, Captain," the Doctor continued. "I've been farther than any of you have ever been, to the beginning of Time and back, from one end of the universe to the other. One thing I've learned is that nothing makes you believe anything, you choose to believe whatever you wish. Believe me, if I had believed as you do, Captain Solo, I would have given up on these humans a long time ago."

"You sure look human," Solo replied.

"No," the Doctor returned. "You look Timelord."

"I suggest you try it again, Luke," Obi-wan said, rising up from where he sat, taking a pilot's helmet with him. "But this time, let go of your conscious self and act on instinct." He placed the helmet upon Luke's head, and it was then that Rose saw that the helmet had a blank visor down over his eyes.

"With the blast-shield down, I can't even see!" Luke complained. "How am I supposed to fight?"

"Your eyes can deceive you, don't trust them." Obi-wan stated.

"Bollocks!" exclaimed the Doctor.

"This I gotta see," Han Solo said.

Rose watched as Luke reactivated the lightsaber. The blue-white blade sprang to life and he remained stationary as the remote passed around him twice. He moved one way, it moved another, and then a tiny yellow prick of light struck Luke in the arm.

"Stretch out with your feelings." Obi-wan encouraged.

After shaking off the ache of the blow, which Rose assumed was non-lethal, he rose his lightsaber into ready stance again. He moved with each whistling motion of the remote, anticipating the blow. Then, before their eyes, he moved in a flash of blue-white light, as one...two..._three_ shots from the remote were parried off the lightsaber's brilliant blade.

"See?" Obi-wan said to Luke as he shut off the lightsaber and removed the helmet. "You can do it."

"I call it luck," Han said.

"Unclassified science," the Doctor added.

"In my experience," Obi-wan replied. "There's no such thing as luck. And as for the Force, it goes beyond the realm of mere science."

"Look, good against remotes is one thing," Han stated, still vainly hoping for the high ground in this argument. "Good against the living, that's something else." An alarm was beeping on the console of the station. "Looks like we're coming up on Alderaan." Han said, then got up from the seat and walked down towards the cockpit. One after another, Chewbacca followed after him, then Rose and the Doctor, while Luke and Obi-wan said a few things to themselves.

"So," Rose said, while they were walking down the winding corridor. "I heard something about light-speed when I came up to the cockpit."

"Just an expression," the Doctor explained. "They use a hyperdrive engine, which uses localized wormholes to enter the Void."

"'The Void?'" Rose asked.

"The place between alternate realities," continued the Doctor. "The Eternals call it 'the Howling', some people call it 'Hell', but here it's 'hyperspace.' A realm where there is nothing - no time, no up or down, no life, no death, and most importantly, the limitations of space travel are almost nil. One can literally travel from one end of the galaxy to the other in a matter of weeks. It's fantastic!"

Suddenly, the ship started rocking. Just behind them came Luke and the old man. Eager to know what had happened, they followed them on to the cockpit. There, just outside the view port, they could see the inky blackness of space and all the stars beyond, and huge chunks of asteroids flowing around them.

"What's going on?" Luke asked.

"Our position's correct," Han answered. "Except, no Alderaan."

"What! How?"

"Destroyed, by the Empire." Obi-wan said.

"An entire star-fleet couldn't destroy a whole planet," Solo replied. "It would take a thousand ships, with more fire-power than I've ever seen."

"Is this what you felt, Doctor?" Rose whispered. "The...fixed point?"

"Yes," he nodded. "This is what the Empire does: kills whole planets just for a demonstration of their power, just like the Daleks."

* * *

**(AN: Okay, this might get a bit confusing, but there was a problem that I ran into while writing this story. _Doctor Who_, like _Star Trek_, is ragingly atheist, and that becomes a problem when the Doctor, as usual, would try to make a 'scientific' explanation for the Force. The only one that comes to mind is midi-chlorians, and I do not, I repeat, I do NOT believe in midi-chlorians. So in this story, at the same time he both believes and does not believe in the Force.)**

**(Yes, there were some Who quotes used out of context, mostly because those events haven't happened [-wink-]. _That_, of course, refers to the Dahaka from _Prince of Persia: Warrior Within_. Thought that would make a good cross-over, but I'm not gonna do that, not yet at least. That would kind of be like a super-Reaper, wouldn't it? I made up the "blue basilisk", it's something like a White Russian [I'm 22, I can drink, and rum and vodka are alright, but vodka is so blatantly Russian and I can't have any foreign - for the _Star Wars_ universe - alcoholic beverages in this universe, so I made one up. Rum seemed like a pretty general kind of liquor, so I used that instead].)  
**


	8. The Death Star

**(AN: Never seem to have time to finish this, since I've got so much homework and such.)  
**

**(Lol, and I rip off a quote from _Lord of the Rings_, well...paraphrased, but it's still somewhat the same. Well, Jackson ripped off a line in _Jedi_ for _Return of the King_ that was not in the books, so I might as well [lol]. But yeah, I don't own _Lord of the Rings_ either.)  
**

* * *

**The Death Star**

"Another ship's coming in!" Han Solo announced.

"Maybe they know what happened," Rose added, joining the group just behind the rear cockpit seats.

"It's an Imperial fighter," Obi-wan described.

Moments later, the image of a small vessel appeared in the view-port. It was very small, with a circular cockpit no bigger than a small car, but it had two large wings on either side, that were long and rectangular.

"It followed us!" Luke exclaimed, as it flew away from them.

"No, it's a short-range fighter," Obi-wan added.

"There aren't any bases around here," Han mused. "I wonder where it came from."

"Sure is leaving in a big hurry!" Luke said frantically. "If they identify us, we're in big trouble!"

"Not if I can get to it," Han said confidently. "Chewie, jam its transmissions."

"Be as well to let it go," Obi-wan suggested. "It's too far out of range."

"Not for long," Han added.

"That's a TIE fighter, isn't it?" the Doctor said. "Those don't come equipped with hyperdrive, do they?"

"Yes, Doctor," Obi-wan added. "A fighter that size couldn't have gotten this deep into space on its own."

"It must have gotten lost," Luke wondered. "Been part of a convoy, or something."

"Well, he won't be around long enough to tell anybody about us," Solo assured them.

Just as the ship was starting to grow smaller in the view-screen, one of the stars nearby started to grow suddenly larger. It started to grow brighter and was now half the size of an American dime.

"What is that," Rose asked, pointing to the steadily growing satellite. "Is it a moon or something?"

"It could be," Han said. "Alderaan has a moon."

"Maybe that's where he's headed for!" Luke exclaimed.

"I think I can get to him before he gets there, he's almost in range," Han added.

"That's no moon," Obi-wan solemnly said. "It's a space station."

The Doctor said nothing, because he was too busy with his eyes trained on the giant sphere that was starting to devour the view-screen. He couldn't sense it and, in all honesty, he had thought it was a moon as well. But he refused to have anyone have anything over him, for he was a Timelord, dammit!

"Turn the ship around," he suggested.

"Yeah, I think you're right," Han said. "Full reverse, Chewie, lock in the auxiliary power."

The Wookie growled something, hit a lever, and the ship came to a sudden lurch, and started leering forward slowly but surely towards the sphere, which now dominated the view-screen.

"Why are we still moving towards it?!" cried Luke.

"We're caught in a tractor beam, it's pulling us in!" Han replied.

"There's got to be something you can do!" Rose added.

"I'm at full-power, I'll have to shut down," Han replied, gripping the helm. "But they're not gonna get me without a fight." By now, however, the stars had disappeared. All they could see was the massive space station, bristling with battlements, turbo-laser battery towers, ion cannons and all other implements of warfare.

"You can't win," Obi-wan told Captain Solo. "But there are alternatives to fighting."

* * *

"There's no one here!" a distorted voice said over their heads. They waited until the sound of boots disappeared, then the floor-plates were moved back and the crew of the _Millennium Falcon_ emerged from their hiding.

"Boy," Luke said. "It's lucky you had these compartments."

"I use 'em for smuggling," Han replied. "I never thought I'd be smuggling myself. This is ridiculous: even if I could take off, I'd never get past that tractor beam."

"Leave that to me," old Obi-wan said.

"Damn fool," sighed Han Solo. "I knew you were gonna say that."

"Who's the more foolish," asked Obi-wan. "The fool or the fool that follows him?"

"How are we getting out of here?" Rose asked.

"Shh!" Han shushed. "Listen..."

Just down the corridor that led to the loading ramp, there was the sound of boots making their way up the ramp. They placed a large crate just above the loading deck, when suddenly, Han rose from his place and struck down two Imperial technicians. He then looked back at the others and placed his finger over his mouth, then leaned over into the loading ramp.

"Hey down there!" he shouted. "Could you give us a hand with this?"

He stepped back, then pointed at Chewbacca, calling him up from the smuggler's compartment and to his side. Rose gasped when, to her surprise, two armored stormtroopers appeared in the ship's corridor. But before they could react, Chewbacca attacked them, snapping their necks in two swift motions. The armored troops fell to the durasteel floor, stone dead.

"Come here, kid," Han said to Luke. "Take their armor."

Luke climbed out of the compartment where he was at, and began removing the armor off the second stormtrooper. Suddenly, as Han was finishing up the armor, there was a voice coming from the side of his helmet.

_TK-421, why aren't you at your post? TK-421, do you copy?_

"What do we do now?" Rose whispered.

"Just hold on a second," Han said, placing the helmet on his head. Picking up the dead stormtrooper's blaster pistol, he walked down the ladder. Then the distorted voice of Han Solo called back to them. "Follow me, quickly!"

By now, Luke was fully armored and one by one, they ran down the ramp way. Chewbacca was first, then Obi-wan, the Doctor and Rose, followed by C-3PO, R2-D2 and lastly Luke. When they reached the bottom, Rose turned to look at the one side of the hangar where she saw the stars, as though she were looking out of the opened door of the TARDIS in mid-space.

"What's this?" Rose asked.

"Force field," the Doctor replied.

Suddenly, there was a roar just a few meters away in a nearby control room on the wall of the hangar. One by one, they ran up a ramp that led to a long hallway. On the right was a control room, where now lay two Imperial officers in black uniforms, both of them dead. Once they were all inside, Luke, taking up the rear, closed the blast-door behind them, then removed his helmet even as Han had already removed his.

"You know," Luke berated. "Between his howling and your blasting everyone in sight, it's a wonder the whole station doesn't know we're here."

"Bring 'em on!" Han contested. "I prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around."

By this time, C-3PO and R2 had come to the console of the control room.

"Master Luke!" 3PO began. "We found the computer outlet, sir!"

"Plug in," Obi-wan ordered. "You should be able to interpret the entire Imperial network.

R2-D2 inserted an arm probe into the computer terminal and began to scan the network. Meanwhile, the Doctor was examining the dead Imperials. At his side, Rose was looking at them with quiet concern.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked.

"These were humans," the Doctor began. "Real humans, not clones. They had lives of their owns, possibly even families and loved ones."

"But they were serving the Empire..." Rose stated.

"Were they?" the Doctor turned back to her. "Were they indeed as evil as the ones who used this station to destroy Alderaan, or were they coerced, brought here by lies and threats? Would they not have rather stayed at their homeworlds in peace?"

Rose looked at the dead officers with shock, as though she had just witnessed a horrible crime. What if they were as the Doctor had said? But, how could they be? How could they have gone along with what had happened just moments ago, with the destruction of Alderaan?

"The tractor beam," C-3PO narrated as floor-plans flashed on the computer's monitor. "Is coupled to the main reactor in seven locations. A power-loss at one of the terminals would allow the ship to leave."

"I don't think you boys can help," the old man said, walking towards the door. "I must go alone."

"Whatever you say," Han grumbled. "I've done more than I bargained for on this trip already."

"I wanna go with you," Luke interjected, walking after old Obi-wan.

"Be patient, Luke, stay here and watch over the droids." Obi-wan dismissed. "They must be delivered safely, or other star systems will suffer the same fate as Alderaan. Your destiny lies along a different path from mine." He pressed a button and the doors opened, then turned to Luke.

"The Force will be with you...always."

With that, he walked on down the hallway, and Luke shut the door behind him.

"Come on, Rose," the Doctor said, dragging one of the dead officers aside. "We're going."

"Where?"

"To find one of the other terminals," the Doctor said. "If only one goes offline, they'll be able to re-route power to the tractor beam and we'll be stuck here."

"Can I go with you?"

"If you can fit into the other uniform," the Doctor said, as he began removing the officer's black uniform. Rose took one look at the other one, but, unfortunately, there was a blast-burn in the front of the uniform where Han had shot him.

"I don't think that would work, Doctor," Rose replied. "He's got a hole burned into his chest."

"I could always take you as my prisoner," the Doctor said with a devious smile. "But that wouldn't work either, officers wouldn't escort prisoners, not without stormtroopers backing them."

"Can't we just find an extra suit of armor?" Rose queried.

"Just follow me," the Doctor said as he began removing his jacket.

* * *

Down the cold hallways of the Imperial battle station walked the Doctor in the black uniform of an Imperial officer. Behind him walked Rose, still dressed in her sand-covered clothes which she had worn since who knows when and had been with her since she and the Doctor arrived on Tatooine. For a while, they were not spotted and met no one else. Suddenly, the Doctor waved for Rose to get behind him as a lone trooper in white armor walked towards them.

"Oi! Trooper!" the Doctor called out.

"Captain!" the soldier stood at attention. "Is everything alright? Control Center Delta went non-responsive several minutes ago..."

But before the trooper could continue, the Doctor had pressed his hand against the trooper's neck, and he collapsed onto the floor.

"What d'you do to 'im?" Rose asked.

"Nerve pinch," the Doctor replied. "Took me a century to learn, but I finally got it down. Rarely use it, but my screwdriver wouldn't work and we don't want to harm the uniform, do we?"

The Doctor and Rose dragged the unconscious stormtrooper aside, and the Doctor helped Rose remove the armor. While she was removing the plasteel plates, she noticed an odd set of numbers on the inside of the helmet, just by the radio mouth-piece. For a moment, it looked like Aurebesh, the letters used by the people of this universe, but then they rearranged themselves before her eyes into words which she could read.

"'BW-113,'" she read.

"Your unit code, soldier," the Doctor said cheekily.

"No, but I've been seeing this all over," Rose said. "Well, not _this_, but the phrase 'Bad Wolf' has been popping up everywhere, and now here, the initials for 'Bad Wolf'...B-W. I wonder what it means."

"It's a code, Rose," assured the Doctor. "Doesn't mean anything, especially since we're billions of light-years away from where you last saw those words."

"I suppose so," Rose said, as she began putting the armor over her regular clothes. In a few minutes, a shortened stormtrooper was standing astride "Captain" Doctor.

"Is everything alright?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah, fine," Rose said. "But I'm having trouble seeing in this bloody thing."

"Here," the Doctor reached around to the side of the helmet and pressed a button. "Better?"

"Whoa! Loads better!" Rose said. "There's a targeting computer in the visor." She reached around the armor, pulling out the blaster pistol.

"Most troopers aren't shown this, Rose," the Doctor said. "They're conscripted off their home-world, given basic training, armor and a gun and told to shoot who their officers tell them to shoot. Most of them never get to learn how their equipment works before they're killed in combat."

"Not a good line of work in the Empire, is it?" Rose replied cheekily.

"Not at all," replied the Doctor. "Now, just follow me, hold your weapon up like this." He held it up in her hands in ready position. "And don't speak to anyone."

"Why not?" Rose asked. "Aren't there women in the Empire?"

"Yes and no," the Doctor said, taking a look around the hallway to see if anyone was there.

"Yes _and_ no?"

"Well, there are a few serving in the Empire at this point," the Doctor began. "Natasi Daala, currently positioned at the Imperial installation orbiting the Maw Cluster and one other, that I know of, but it's not safe to speak of her. She's dangerous, that one."

"Only two?" Rose replied.

"Enough chit-chat," the Doctor said. "Let's move."

* * *

Once they were in their disguises, "Captain" Doctor and Rose the stormtrooper made their way down the corridors of the Imperial battle-station. No one stopped them or questioned where they were going or why they were not at their posts, which, for the moment, was rather well. While they were walking, the Doctor suddenly pulled Rose aside into an alcove of the hallway. Just then, a large dark shadow walked down the hall, an ominous, electronic rasping breathing the only sound it made.

"What's that?" Rose whispered.

"Darth Vader," the Doctor replied. "The Emperor's right hand, the one responsible for the destruction of the Jedi Order."

"Does he...have, you know, old Obi-wan's powers?"

"More than that," the Doctor stated. "I doubt even the psychic paper would work on him."

They remained in the alcove while the shadow passed, with the ominous thumping of heavy boots and the rasping of his breath slowly getting fainter and fainter until at last they were gone. Once again the Doctor checked to see if the coast was clear, then motioned for Rose to come out.

"We're in disguise," she said. "Why did we have to hide?"

"He was a Jedi once," answered the Doctor. "He can sense our presence, especially mine. And he's been known to kill subordinates who have displeased him, so even our disguises wouldn't save him from his wrath."

Beneath her helmet, Rose looked very displeased and scared. But the Doctor moved on, and she followed on after him.

"Hey, where are we going again?" she asked.

"Level 6," the Doctor replied. "That's where we'll find the other power terminal for the tractor beam."

The hours seemed to drag on forever as they walked the halls of the battle station, coming at last to an elevator. In they went, and the Doctor punched in the floor number and it started humming while they descended.

"We're almost there, Rose," the Doctor said. "Just hang in there."

At last, the doors swung open and they found themselves on a little-used maintenance corridor. Off to the left the Doctor led until they came to a huge chasm. It was very huge, with doors from several other levels on the opposite wall of the chasm on various levels.

"Dead end, Doctor?" Rose asked through the stormtrooper's helmet.

"No," the Doctor said, kneeling down. "There's a bridge control around here somewhere." He removed from his uniform jacket pocket the sonic screwdriver, pressed a button and on came the blue light. In a minute, a bridge began extending from their side and from the other side. They met with a quiet clang in the middle.

"There we are!" he said with a smile.

They walked across the bridge, and once across, the Doctor pressed the bridge control on the other side, which retracted the bridge behind them. In dead silence they walked, the only sound the echoing of their boots on the durasteel floor and the hum of power coursing through the walls. Several meters onward, with three more hallways on either side, and they met no one as of yet.

At the end of this hallway there was another chasm, but this one had a perma-bridge instead of a retractable one. In the midst of the chasm, halfway through the bridge, was a tall pylon upon which was a power conduit with a glowing generator above their heads.

"It looks like the TARDIS," Rose said, gesturing to the generator.

"Just give me a second here," the Doctor said, getting to work on the computer terminal. A few buttons pressed, a lever or two turned and a low, descending hum was the only indication that the power connection to the tractor beam had been severed.

"Damn, this helmet's boiling," Rose explicated. She removed the helmet, shaking her shoulder-length blond hair free and sighing.

Suddenly, there was an alert klaxon blaring. A voice was heard over the intercom.

_Now hear this, all levels on alert. Prison break on Level 5. All units report to Level 5, cell-block AA-23._

"That's not good," Rose said. "What happened, Doctor?"

"The others," the Doctor answered. "They went to find the Princess but they were caught."

"Princess?" Rose asked.

"The one in the message in R2 and my screwdriver," the Doctor replied. "We need to get moving. If we're discovered next to a deactivated power terminal, it won't take the Empire long to put one and two together and find out we're not with them."

"So what do we do?"

The Doctor finished up with the conduit, then made his way over to Rose, and then halted. He suddenly realized that they were not alone. On the other side, where they had just come from, a battalion of stormtroopers stood with their blaster rifles ready. The Doctor knew that, at best, they had been discovered and at worst, they had heard everything they had just said.

"Run for your life!" exclaimed the Doctor with his usual, knavish grin.

* * *

**(AN: Lol, now that was a good way to end this chapter, wasn't it?!)**

**(Lots of EU stuff, like Daala and _that_ woman [aka. Mara Jade], and my explanation for why stormtroopers were such bad shots. Chewie attacking the two stormtroopers, including TK-421, was from _Adywan's_ edit, but I included it because it seemed logical, as a blaster would have left a mark, as I showed with the second officer in the control room. And omg, a reference to 'Bad Wolf' in _Star Wars_. Because, of course, 'BW' was for 'Bad Wolf' and 113 was the production number for "The Parting of the Ways", the first _Doctor Who_ episode I saw, in which Nine turned into Ten and Rose turned into Bad Wolf.)  
**


	9. The Parting of the Ways

**(AN: Yes, this was the first _Doctor Who_ episode I saw, and it's also the name of this chapter. You can obviously guess where it's going, especially if you've seen _Kelvington_'s parody.)  
**

* * *

**The Parting of the Ways**

Blaster fire shot over their heads, ricocheting off the durasteel walls on either side and the floor. Rose, the only one with a weapon, turned towards the oncoming troopers and started shooting. The kick-back was more than she expected, and her arms kept flying upward, sending her shots over-wide.

But at least they were running. With the Doctor in the lead, and Rose providing covering fire at the rear, they ran down the hall, then made the first turn they could find to avoid remaining exposed to a battalion of soldiers. It was a right, and it led downward into another hall that snaked back the way they had come. Once they reached the bottom, they saw that the stormtroopers were already on their way down.

"They're getting closer!" Rose shouted, before sending a few shots up at them.

"Watch this," the Doctor said with his usual grin, then pointed his screwdriver at the wall. Suddenly, a huge blast-door sealed them off from their pursuers. Faintly they could hear the stormtroopers shouting "Open the blast-doors!" from the other end.

"Won't they just open it on their end?" Rose asked.

"They could," the Doctor replied. "But their controls are dead." He waved the screwdriver once.

"You're brilliant, Doctor!" Rose exclaimed.

"I prefer fantastic," he said. "Now, let's lose these uniforms. No use carrying them around anymore if we've been discovered."

"But I can keep this, can I?" Rose asked, holding up the blaster.

"You humans and your obsession with weapons and killing," the Doctor scolded. "It's like you don't even want to learn from your own mistakes."

"Well, in case you didn't notice, those troopers are human and that didn't stop them from shooting at us!"

"I didn't want this to happen," the Doctor said. "I never meant to turn you into a weapon, Rose."

"I'm not a weapon," Rose replied, surprised at the Doctor's sudden seriousness. "I'm just using this to defend myself."

"But that's what I'm here for, Rose, to protect you."

"What about you?"

"I don't need protection. I've lived too long, enough people have died at my hands."

By now, they were both out of their disguises. The Doctor still wore his trousers and shirt, though he had stuffed the leather jacket into one of his trouser pockets, since it wouldn't fit over the Imperial officer uniform ("They're bigger on the inside" he told a perplexed Rose as he removed the jacket from a disproportionately small trouser pocket). Reluctantly, Rose had removed her armor and was now back in her jeans and pink hoodie, only with an blaster rifle in hand.

"Right," the Doctor said. "Let's go."

"Wait, what was that about living too long? You're not gonna die on me, are you?"

"I wish I could be done with it all," the Doctor began. "All those lives, the Timelords, the Daleks, everyone I killed in the Time War, and all the others who have died since I left Gallifrey, the victims of all my journeys, and all those who died during our travels. But it wouldn't be the end."

"What do you mean?"

"We Timelords have a way of cheating death," the Doctor stated. "But it means I'd have to change. If anything happens, promise me you'll be safe. If I had the TARDIS with me now, I'd take you back home, but I can't do that."

Suddenly, blaster fire struck the floor just a few centimeters away from their feet. More and more blood red blasts started raining down on them.

"We're trapped!" Rose cried.

"Not yet," the Doctor grimly said, his face set as he reached into his pocket. He drew out a small cylindrical object, similar to the sonic screwdriver. Before Rose's eyes, a meter-long blade of blue-white energy sprang to life out of one end of the device.

"Wait, you have a lightsaber?" Rose asked. "I thought you didn't believe, you know, in the Force or carrying a gun."

"This isn't a gun, Rose," the Doctor replied. "It's a weapon of defense." One of the blasts came dangerously close, and the Doctor deflected it with the blade of the lightsaber. "Get behind me, Rose, and stay close!"

Out of the corridor the Doctor walked and onto a bridge that led one level below the bridge they had just left, and from behind the Doctor's jacket, Rose could see how they had thus been cornered. The stormtroopers, realizing that the blast-doors had been locked from the other side, knew there was no other way out of that hallway save by the bridge, which would lead them right into the line of fire and so they rained down fire upon them. But the Doctor's lightsaber arced gracefully this way and that, deflecting fire harmlessly towards the walls and farther down into the abysmal chasm.

Now they were almost at the other end. The Doctor shifted, placing Rose behind him once again while he now faced the stormtroopers, who were firing at them as they passed down out of reach. For one brief moment, they were allowed a moment of rest.

"Did we do it?" Rose asked.

"We just bought ourselves time," the Doctor replied. "They know this station better than we do. We have to find the others and return to the ship."

"But where are they?"

"If my guess is correct, and it usually is," the Doctor began. "We haven't done much damage to the events here, so the time we heard that alarm was when AA-23 went offline and Tarkin put all section on alert."

"Wait, who's Tarkin?" Rose asked.

"Governor Wilhuff Tarkin," the Doctor replied. "An Imperial governor, mass murderer, advocate of genocide and 'rule through terror'. He's the one who ordered Alderaan blown out of the sky to demonstrate the power of this battle station: almost two billion peaceful people killed instantly, and that's just the least of what he's done. Aside from the Emperor and Darth Vader, he's the closest thing this galaxy has to a Dalek."

Rose's countenance fell as she heard these words. Vividly she remembered her first trip with the Doctor, when she saw the annihilation of the Earth by the implosion of the Sun. That was a natural cause, and it was quite devastating in her own mind. But this, the wanton destruction of that many people, and by a human no less: it was almost more than she could believe.

"Once the ship went on alert," the Doctor said. "There was a stand-down moment when they escaped down the garbage compactors and they couldn't be found."

"Wait, d'you hear?" Rose suddenly interrupted. "The alarms went off."

"It's the stand-down," the Doctor said. "It should be about ten minutes before they escape and get caught again. We should use this time to get back to the ship."

"Wait, garbage compactors, what are those?"

"Disposal units, massive ones," the Doctor rambled on as he led Rose down the corridor that was eerily quiet. "They chuck all their waste in their and then they crush it and dump it out into space. More examples of human advancement, the complete and total apathy of nature and the conditions of the universe."

"Well, we're not all like that," Rose said. "I mean, there are people fighting this, right? The Rebellion and all."

"But I know what's going to happen," the Doctor answered. "We're in the first century, back on Earth, the Roman Empire rules pretty much everything from Iberia to Babylon. Everything that's happening in this war has already happened. All we can do is watch."

"But all those people dying," Rose retorted. "I mean, that's what you do, you're the Doctor. Can't you do something, can't you help them?"

"No, Rose," the Doctor shook his head. "I've fought one war too many already."

They walked on in complete silence, their feet making the only sound as the Doctor had already shut off his lightsaber. There was no sight or sound of pursuit in any direction, but the Doctor remained wary.

* * *

Ten minutes passed and once more they were on their way, until at last they heard the alarms sounding. The Doctor looked about, but there was no pursuit. Rose gripped the blaster in her hand a little tighter, ready to fight to the last for the Doctor. Unfortunately, there was, at the present moment, no need.

Suddenly, a blast door opened and they were faced once again with a battalion of stormtroopers, surprised to see unauthorized people on their hallways.

"Halt!" the nearest one said, raising his blaster rifle, the others did likewise.

"Run, Rose," the Doctor said, his face set on the expressionless masks of the troopers.

"But, Doctor..."

"Run," he insisted, turning to her. "Go back to the others, I'll find you."

"Don't move, you!" the stormtrooper ordered the Doctor.

"Make me," the Doctor said with a smile on his face.

"Doctor!" Rose screamed as the blasters started shooting.

But there was no need. In a flash, the Doctor had his lightsaber out again and was holding back the enemy fire.

"Run, Rose!" he repeated. "Find the others, I'll join you when I'm done here!" A blast shot over his head, just past his ear, and he turned to evade the blow and saw that Rose was still rooted. "That's an order!"

With tears in her eyes, Rose bolted down the hallway. She ran and ran until she came to the end, where there were only two ways, one to the left and the other to the right. She looked back, and could still see the shape of the Doctor, making quite a valiant stand against outnumbering odds of stormtroopers. Biting her lip, she turned away and walked off, the sound of continuous blaster fire the only indication that the Doctor was still alive. Soon she went so far that she could no longer hear the sound of weapon fire and feared the worst.

Suddenly, she ran head-long into a white-clad figure. Fearing for her life, she raised her blaster pistol to position, ready to fight to the last if she needed.

"Rose?"

"Luke!" she exclaimed, lowering the pistol. She threw her arms around the young farm boy, who returned with a gentle pat on her shoulder.

"Rose, you're alive!" he exclaimed. "What happened? The last time I saw you, you and the Doctor were going off somewhere, we didn't see you. Have you seen Ben? What about Han and Chewie?"

"Who's this?" a feminine voice asked.

Rose saw, standing next to Luke, was a young woman about a head shorter than he. She also was clad in white, but her face was a lot paler than Luke's and she had brunette hair, tied into two buns that sat on the sides of her head.

"Uh, Rose Tyler, this is Princess Leia," Luke introduced.

"You never mentioned her before," the princess said.

"Uh, slipped my mind," the young man said. "But she's good, she's with us."

"You are?"

"Um...yeah." Rose nodded.

"Wait, where's the Doctor?"

"The Doctor!" Princess Leia exclaimed. "He's here too?"

"You know the Doctor?" both Luke and Rose said as one.

"Only by reputation," Leia replied. "He served my father during the Clone War, just like General...'Ben' Kenobi." She said with a wink in Luke's direction.

"Blimey, everyone knows the Doctor!" Rose exclaimed.

"Where is he?"

"He said he'd be coming," Rose replied, her voice quivering. "He stayed behind to draw the troopers off our backs."

"Come on, then, we gotta get back to the ship," Luke said.

"But what about the Doctor!" Rose exclaimed.

"He'll be fine," Princess Leia replied. "If I remember correctly from what my father told me about him, he always manages to survive. If he says he'll come, he'll come."

* * *

It had once again been a piece of cake. Just lead them down the right hallway, close the blast-doors with the sonic screwdriver, wave the lightsaber about a bit, and the Doctor had lost the pursuit. If he remembered correctly, he was on the right trail. He was the Doctor, he knew everything, including those things people weren't supposed to know, like the outlay of the Death Star, this Imperial battle station. This was the right corridor: the first blast-door to the left and he would be in the hangar where the _Millennium Falcon_ had been captured.

Suddenly, a dark shadow blocked his path. From out of the shadow there appeared a cloaked form, all clad in black armor. It was humanoid, but very tall and there was no face. A black masked helmet covered the face and hid all features beneath the visage of some kind of creature. The raspy breathing could be faintly detected as the heavy boots closed the distance between the two of them.

The Doctor flicked open his lightsaber, just as the blood red blade of Darth Vader's came to life as he was now within striking range.

"I've been waiting for you, Doctor," the menacing, electronic voice growled. "We meet again at last." The red blade was raised into attack position.

"Darth Vader," the Doctor replied. "We've never met before, not even as..."

"The time-line has been corrupted, Doctor," Vader replied. "When I left you, you believed I was dead, like all the others."

The Doctor's usually stoic or jolly face was now torn by sudden and horrific realization. Of all the worst fates he ever could have imagined, of all the Nightmares that might have survived the Time War, there was one that was worse than all the rest of them. And now, beyond his greatest fears, it had returned.

"Yes, Doctor," the dark figure replied. "Now _I_ am the Master."

* * *

Luke, Rose and the Princess joined Han and Chewbacca in a corridor near the entrance to the hangar bay. Just beyond was the _Falcon_, guarded by several stormtroopers.

"What kept you?" Han asked.

"We ran into some old friends," Princess Leia replied.

"The ship alright?" asked Luke.

"Seems okay, as long as we can get to it," Han answered. "I just hope the old man got that tractor beam outta commission."

"Indeed he did!"

"Ben!" Luke exclaimed.

Behind them approached the old Jedi master, his dark brown hood cast over his head. Leia turned to him and embraced him, but then suddenly remembered herself and took a step back and bowed.

"General," she said. "Forgive me."

"All is well," Obi-wan assured her. "Although, captain, you have no reason to fear. The tractor beam is out of commission. The Doctor made dually sure of that, you needn't worry."

"Good," Han replied. "'Cuz if not, we would have been in for a real short trip."

"Look!" Leia interrupted.

Just outside, the stormtroopers started to disperse. Now the way was clear and it was just a few meter run from here to the open loading ramp of the _Millennium Falcon_ and they would be gone from this dreadful battle station.

"Now's our change, go!" hissed Han.

One by one, they ran out of the corridor and made the run across the hangar deck to the _Falcon_. As if on cue, C-3PO and R2-D2 emerged from where they had been hiding at the back of the hangar and joined them. At the rear came Luke, Leia, Obi-wan and Rose. But while they were walking, Rose happened to look to her right and saw something that shocked her.

"Doctor?" she asked.

At the far end of the hangar bay, a heavy blast door was open. The stormtroopers who had been guarding the _Falcon_ were there, watching a spectacle that made Rose quiver in fear. There stood the Doctor, his lightsaber active and humming, as he fought the dark shadow of Darth Vader, wielding a lightsaber that looked as though it were of fire. Their blades were locked, the two combatants evenly matched.

"This will be a day long remembered," the shadow said to the Doctor.

Suddenly, Rose became acutely aware that the Doctor was looking at her. He had turned his face from his opponent and in her direction. She could see something in his eyes she had not seen, or rather what had been there and she had never gotten the chance to see it properly.

The Doctor then turned back to his opponent, smiled and raised his lightsaber parallel to his body, with both eyes closed. The shadow swung its fiery blade, and in one swift motion, there was a yellow slash across the Doctor's upper chest. A blaze of golden light issued from the form suddenly.

"NO!" screamed Rose.

But that was the wrong thing to do, for now all the stormtroopers in the hangar bay knew where they were. But Rose didn't care. She had a blaster in her hand, and if it was the last thing she'd do, she'd make them all pay for what they'd done to the Doctor. Out it came and she began shooting whatever was nearest. One trooper went down, but they were still outnumbering them. Luke and Han then added their blasters to hers and a rain of suppressive fire was thrown down upon the stormtroopers.

"Come on!" Han shouted.

"Rose, we must leave!" Obi-wan said, over the din of battle. He lifted his hand and the blast doors started to close.

Rose continued shooting, tears streaming down her face.

"Grab her and let's go!" Han shouted. Suddenly, Luke and Obi-wan both took hold of Rose and dragged her kicking and screaming from the hangar bay of the Death Star.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Rose screamed.

"We gotta go!" Luke replied.

"But he's not dead! He's not dead!"

"We cannot help him," Obi-wan said. "It would be a dishonor to his sacrifice."

"Damn it, he's the Doctor! I can't let him die!"

_Rose, listen to me!__ You've got to run! Run now!_

Rose paused for a moment, as the loading ramp of the _Falcon_ started to hiss. She had heard a voice, the voice of the Doctor. But it was telling her to run. She cursed, then clambered onto the ramp, her feet barely escaping being crushed as it closed up, leaving the Death Star and the Doctor behind.

* * *

**(AN: Yes, I did just go there.)**

**(It's part of the original parody video, all of it, the duel and what Darth Vader said, so I'm just going 'by the book' [lol]. Also, when I first watched _A New Hope_, I was shocked that Obi-wan died. I always thought he would have gone on to help the Republic and, perhaps, continue Luke's training. So consider this my attempt at reconciling that past assumption with my [alternate universe] fic.)  
**

**(Don't kill me, fan-girls, please!)  
**


	10. Battle of Yavin

**(AN: Lol, did you not read my text? "Now _I_ am the Master". I refer you once again to _Kelvington_'s review, where you will see where I'm going with that. I thought it would be evident, hiding in plain sight, just like the first question, but I guess I'll have to spell it out in simpler terms [lol].)  
**

* * *

**Battle of Yavin**

The _Millennium Falcon_ soared away from the Imperial battle station without the tractor beam coming back online. The few sentry ships had proved little match for Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, manning the _Falcon_'s quad cannons on the top-side and belly of the ship. Once they were safely away, Princess Leia gave them coordinates for their next destination and they set off into hyperspace.

No one spoke to Rose after what had happened. She remained in the Engineering Bay, weeping uncontrollably. She hadn't reacted during the battle and when it was all over and the _Falcon_ was safely away in hyperspace, she remained cloistered away, sobbing without end. The worst of it was over, and she now sulked, her eyes reddened by the constant flow of tears, which still welled up in her eyes though they fell no longer.

At last, when the endless hum of the hyperdrive engines was all that filled the Engineering Bay, the old man made his way to the fallen form of Rose.

"Miss Tyler," the old man said. "Are you well?"

She did not respond. Obi-wan knelt down next to her, placing his hand on her shoulder, but she swatted it away.

"We'll be nearing the Yavin system," he said. "When we land, I will present your case to General Dodonna, the commanding officer of the rebel base in that system. He will decide what will happen next." Once again, Rose was silent. "I regret what happened with the Doctor. He was a wise being, powerful and generous, and a good friend."

Rose remained silent.

"Rose," Obi-wan continued, using her first name. "Mourning the dead will not bring them back."

"He's not dead!" Rose sobbed. "I saw him, he was still on his feet. Whatever's happened, the Doctor's not dead."

Obi-wan did not respond, but while he was silent, the noise of whirring locomotors sounded from the other end, followed by the whistling and beeping of R2-D2.

"Excuse me, Master Kenobi," the golden droid, following closely behind, began. "I know this is an inappropriate time, but R2 says that he has a message for Miss Tyler."

"Go away, please," she sobbed.

R2 beeped something mournful, at which C-3PO interpreted: "He says it's from the Doctor."

Rose turned away, looking hopefully at the squat astromech droid. Obi-wan patted C-3PO on the shoulder, and led him out of the Engineering Bay. Once they were gone, she turned to the astromech.

"Alright," she said. "What do you have for me?"

The little droid whistled, and out of the holo-vid projector beneath its "eye", a holographic image about half-a-meter high materialized just a few feet away from Rose. She gasped as she saw what shape it was that had appeared.

_Rose_, the image of the Doctor said. _If you're reading this, then it means I'm dead or about to die at any moment with no chance of escape. But I promised to look after you, and that's what I'm going to do. If you can't find the TARDIS, then it means you're more or less stuck here. Stay with the Rebellion: no matter what happens, they're the only key to freedom. Everything should go as planned, and they'll win this Galactic Civil War. When that happens, find yourself a place on Coruscant, that's the capital of the Old Republic, the Imperial Center, and will become the center of the New Republic once the Empire's been overthrown. You stay there, Rose, stay there and have a good, long, happy life. I'm sorry, Rose, but this is the only way it is. Were things differently, I could not have hoped to stay with you forever. I'm nine hundred years old, you're only eighteen. I will never age, but you will grow old and die, and I cannot bear to see that happen to you, Rose. Goodbye, Rose Tyler, I love you._

The image faded, and yet Rose continued to look on, as if there were something else further of the message. R2 beeped at her, but she didn't know what it meant and so could not respond.

"No," she shook her head. "No, because I saw him. He's still alive, he's on that battle station."

R2 let out a mournful sound, then turned around and rolled away without saying or presenting anything else.

* * *

The _Millennium Falcon_ came to rest in the midst of a great jungle. Before them was a giant stone structure, so ancient that it far surpassed the ruins in the Yucatan Peninsula, the only things from Rose's world which were anything like these massive buildings. At the bottom of one was a great opening, through which shuttles passed through periodically. As soon as the _Falcon_ came to rest, a group of humans appeared and led the passengers from the ship into the superstructure.

As they were approaching, a group of dignitaries came forward to meet them. First there was a middle-aged man with dark, graying hair, whom embraced Princess Leia and spoke several words to her. There was another, who approached Leia and the others with a dignified air: this man was old, very old, with a long white beard and a face that looked like it had seen a dozen such wars as the Doctor had, Rose saw, recognizing the depth in his eyes.

"Princess," the old man greeted. "It's good to see you safely returned."

"Thank you, General," Princess Leia said to the older man. "These were my rescuers." She turned to the others, who stood more or less patiently behind them. "General Dodonna, this is Luke Skywalker."

"Skywalker," Dodonna said to the young man. "I've heard the stories about your father. You have my gratitude for your service to the Alliance."

"Thank you, General," Luke said, shaking Dodonna's out-stretched hand.

"If I may, Skywalker," Dodonna continued. "I would like to speak with you later. It would be a great boon to the Alliance if you were willing to join us, and you had the piloting skills of your father."

"Thank you again, General."

"And this is..."

"General Kenobi," Dodonna said, saluting old Ben. "I've heard of your exploits during the War as well. While I was under the impression you had long since disappeared, it is good to have a Jedi on our side once more."

"Thank you, General." Obi-wan bowed. "If I may, this young lady is Rose Tyler." He gestured to the young woman behind him. Rose stepped forward sheepishly. "She joined us on Tatooine and assisted in the rescue of the Princess, at great personal loss to herself. She wishes only to leave in peace."

"That might be easier said than done," Dodonna said, then turned to Rose. "Miss Tyler, I should like to speak with you after I have spoken with young Skywalker."

"Yes, General."

* * *

In less than a few minutes from their arrival, the activity at the base became suddenly more frantic. Though Rose saw little more of Han Solo and Chewbacca after they met with General Dodonna and Commander Willard, she went with Luke and Obi-wan to the command center, where they would speak with the General. Luke went in first, but he did not stay long. When he came out, he looked rather excited.

"What's happened?" Rose asked.

"The General said I could join the Alliance fighter squadron," Luke said. But before he could say further, a voice called over on an intercom: _Attention, all pilots report to Conference Room B for mission debriefing.  
_

"I gotta go," he said. "It's been fun, having you with us." He held out his hand to Rose, who shook it.

"You take care up there, fly-boy," she said.

And with that, Luke dashed off down the hall. The door then opened and Rose walked into Dodonna's office. There were several computer read-out screens and various holographic reports, and at the farthest end, on what had been an old, moss-covered bench, sat General Dodonna.

"Miss Tyler," the general greeted. "Thank you for waiting." He rose from his seat. "I understand that you wish to leave."

"Uh, not really," Rose replied. "I mean, I'm not really good at fighting, and I've never flown a plane, or...starfighter, before, so I don't know what good I'd do."

"On any other occasion, I would be more than happy to allow you to leave," the general said. "We may be at war, but the Alliance does remember what we're fighting for. Unfortunately, I can't allow you to do that." He pressed a button on one of the consoles, and one of the holographic images showed a spherical device with a revolving countdown around it.

"The Imperial battle station, code-named 'Death Star'," General Dodonna continued. "Has been spotted entering the Yavin system. In less than thirty minutes, they will be within firing range of this planet. During that time, we will be sending our pilots on the last portion of Operation: Skyhook, an attempt to destroy the battle station."

Rose's eyes snapped open when she heard what he said.

"I'm afraid we can't afford to send any ships off planet until the battle is over, win or lose," the General continued. "I'm truly sorry."

"Wait, you're sending your pilots against _that_ thing?" Rose gestured to the image of the Death Star. "It's the size of a small moon! It's suicide!"

"It would be indeed," Dodonna said. "If not for the plans of the battle station Princess Leia delivered to us from Skywalker's astromech droid. Our best military analysts are going over the data, looking for a weakness. Once the report comes in, I will present our battle plan to the pilot teams."

_Was any of _this_ on that message the Doctor had on his sonic screwdriver?_ Rose thought. _The Doctor!_

"Wait, sir, you can't do this," she interjected. "There's someone still onboard the space station. Uh...he's one of us, he helped in the rescue of the Princess."

"If he's still on-board," the general said. "There's nothing we can do about it. Once our ships take off, the Death Star will be on full alert and it will be impossible to attempt a rescue mission in that amount of time."

"But you can't just leave him to die out there!" Rose insisted. "I...he's...he's the Doctor! The Last of the Timelords. He's...he's amazing and wonderful and brilliant and terrifying. He'll help the Alliance, you can't afford to lose him!"

"I truly wish there were a way, but there is nothing we can do." Dodonna said. Just then, his intercom beeped. "Dodonna here."

_The information checks out_, a technician's voice announced over the intercom. _Pardon me, sir, but it's damn near impossible except..._

"Yes"

_Well, there's one weakness. I can barely believe it myself. You'll have to come down here and see it for yourself, general._

"I'm on my way," General Dodonna replied. He then turned to Rose. "If you'll please excuse me."

"Yeah, sure." Rose said, and the General left and she behind him. But once he left, Rose did not feel all that assured or safe. In fact, the only thing she wanted was to hijack one of these ships and fly to the Death Star and rescue the Doctor.

_But I can't do that...can I?_

* * *

"What's wrong?" Leia asked.

"Oh, it's Han," sighed Luke. "I really thought he'd change his mind."

From where Rose stood, at old Obi-wan's side, she saw the aftermath of what had happened in the conference room. Han Solo, apparently, was not interested in joining the fighter squadrons in the impending battle against the Death Star. He had said, in no uncertain terms, that attacking the battle station was "suicide". Every word he said was heard by Rose, even his final farewell to Luke, something she never thought Solo would have said.

"May the Force be with you."

"He's got to follow his own path," Leia reminded Luke. "No one can choose it form him."

"That is true, Luke," Obi-wan added.

"Couldn't you have said something to convince him?" Luke asked.

"Even if I could, it would not be right," Obi-wan said. "If he leaves or stays, it should be of his own free will. That's what makes the Alliance different from the Empire."

"I see," Luke nodded.

Leia leaned up and planted a kiss on Luke's cheek, and then departed on her way. Obi-wan placed his hand on Luke's shoulder.

"Remember, the Force will be with you."

"Thanks, Ben." Luke sighed. The old man left with Princess Leia, leaving only Rose at the other end of the hangar.

"Good luck, Luke," Rose said grimly.

"You too," Luke nodded, then walked off towards his ship. Just then, Rose saw the young man meeting one of his friends. She smiled, imagining how she would feel after meeting Mickey after a long separation. But she had other ideas, and couldn't watch the reunion. Ducking behind a parked cargo hopper, she unfurled the orange bundle she had carried and quickly threw it over her clothes.

_I'll find a way to save the Doctor_, Rose thought. _Even if...well..._

_Blue Squadron, prepare for take-off. _the announcer called over the intercom. _Blue Squadron, prepare for take-off._

In the fifteen minutes of preparation that had passed since her meeting with General Dodonna, Rose had done a bit of investigation and learned that her 'number' would be up soon. The jump-suit she had stolen was a spare from Green Squadron: one of them had been killed on a previous mission and his Y-wing hadn't been filled. Rose quickly tied her hair back, then picked up her helmet, marked with six stripes of green divided by a single golden crest in the center. A few lines of Aurebesh letters were on the bottom which, while staring at them, seemed to make out the same phrase she had seen for almost a year since she joined the Doctor.

_Bad Wolf._

_Green Squadron, prepare for take-off._ _Green Squadron, prepare for take-off._

Rose didn't have time to muse on what this meant. She placed the helmet onto her head, then ran to the Y-wing that was marked as belonging to Green Three. Up the ladder she climbed and sat in the cockpit. The canopy was closed, and she heard a whistling in her head.

"R2?" she asked.

The whistling sounded again, but this time she saw a line of Aurebesh on her screen that translated what the astromech said. _You're new, aren't you?_

"How do you know?" Rose began. "Wait, how can I understand you?"

_Just follow my lead,_ the text read. _I've worked in seven hundred battle simulations since the Clone Wars. You're safe with me._

"And I'm talking to a beeping trash-can," Rose mused.

The Y-wing's engines roared to life, the ship rocked about a bit, and then it lifted off, flying towards the exit of the giant structure. Now she was outside, flying through the air.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "Oh my God! I'm flying!"

_Cut the chatter,_ the text read. _Too much of it and they'll know you don't belong._

"Sorry," she breathed. "It's just...I've never flown a starship before!"

_And you still aren't, it's on auto-pilot. I'm in control.  
_

"And now my life is in the hands of that beeping trash-can," Rose chuckled uneasily.

_Standby alert,_ the announcer from the intercom sounded over the radio in her helmet. _Death Star approaching. Estimated time to firing range, fifteen minutes._

Rose swallowed, wondering which she would want to happen. If the fifteen minutes elapsed, the jungle planet, a moon actually of the huge reddish-orange gas giant Yavin, would be destroyed just like Alderaan. But, if the Rebels won, the Doctor would be destroyed.

_I just gotta go in there, and find the Doctor,_ she told herself.

"All wings, report in!" a voice replied on her helmet.

One by one, eleven voices sounded off the members of Red Squadron. Rose recognized Luke's voice as call-sign "Red Five." Once they were done, seven voices from Gold Squadron announced themselves. Then came at least ten voices from Blue Squadron, and then she began to hear those from her own squad calling out.

"Green Three, check in!" Green Leader ordered.

"Oh, right," Rose answered. "Green Three...uh, standing by."

At last, the fighters had fully checked in. The first voice ordered S-foils to be locked into attack position, and while Rose began searching the controls on her dashboard for what this could mean, the text appeared on her screen.

_Y-wings don't have S-foils, you don't need to do anything._

"Thanks," she said. "Uh, what was your name again?

_My number is R3-B23_, the text read.

Rose looked out the canopy of her Y-wing and saw the sea of ships around her. Most were the four-winged X-wings, whereas some were Y-wings as well. But it was the Death Star, looming ominously before them, that made her throat dry. The Doctor was there, she knew, and she had to come to his aid, no matter what.

"Red Leader, this is Gold Leader," a voice said on the comm. "We're starting for the target shaft now."

"I copy, Gold Leader," Red Leader replied. "We're in position. I'm gonna cut across the axis and try and draw their fire."

One by one, the ships started their descent. Immediately, a hail of emerald turbo-laser fire shot up at them. From where Green Squadron waited, Rose saw below Red and Gold squads easily weaving in and out of the sea of green energy. A few were hit, one actually went down, but they were overall safe from the sea of laser-fire.

But Rose's concern was not the massive amounts of fire, but where she could find the Doctor. All she knew was that she had left him on the hangar bay level, but she did not mark where the hangar had been when they were captured. They had been hiding, not watching the surface of the Death Star, when they first arrived.

"This is Green Three, I'm going in," Rose announced, hoping to get a clearer view of the battle station.

"Negative," Green Leader replied. "We're not going in yet. Gold Squadron's going in first."

"Then what do we do?" Rose asked.

"Focus on the towers, it will make our approach easier," Green Leader stated.

The astromech in the Y-wing brought the ship into a gentle nose dive with the surface of the Death Star, while Rose looked across the controls.

_Firing controls are on manual,_ the text read. _Use the control stick._

Rose pulled it back, and suddenly a red-orange sphere shot out of the back of the Y-wing, where it fell and struck the surface of the battle station.

"Green Three, use your ion cannons," Green Five said. "Use your bombs and torpedoes for the trench run. Were you asleep during the briefing?"

"Cut the chatter, Green Five," Green Leader ordered. "Watch yourselves."

Rose took a look at the controls, pressed the trigger buttons on the two joysticks, and two laser-bolts lanced out, striking the surface of the battle station. She pressed the buttons on the head of the sticks, and two light-blue blasts struck one of the nearby towers. The turbo-lasers shut offline along with all the lights on the tower.

"Good shot, Green Three!" the one called Red Two congratulated.

"Squad leaders," one of the controllers announced over the communications. "We've picked up a new group of signals. Enemy fighters coming your way."

"My scope's negative, I don't see anything!" exclaimed Luke.

"Pick up your visual scanning, here they come!" warned Red Leader.

Suddenly, the Y-wing began swerving back and forth and green bolts of energy lanced across it. R3 wailed and whistled, and Rose seemed frozen in the cockpit. It hadn't really occurred to her until now, sitting in a Y-wing that was now being targeted by the Empire, that she was extremely untested, unprepared and vulnerable. Of all the horrible stories about plane crashes she had heard, none of them equated with the horror of dying in space in a starfighter dogfight. The cabin of her Y-wing was pressurized: it was not like the TARDIS, where the door could be kept open and she would be able to survive without life support. One hull breech and she'd be dead. Of course, there were no second chances in this kind of fight. If her ship was destroyed, aside from being incinerated in the explosion, she would die in the vacuum even if she survived the explosion.

But what made all of this worse was that the Doctor wasn't there. He could have helped her, she knew. He would have done something, he would have made sure she didn't have to go on this crazy suicide mission.

"Green Three, watch yourself!" Red Three called out. "Fighter on your tail at 0.3!"

But Rose was frozen in her cockpit, her heart beating faster than it had ever beat before, as the emerald rays of death snaked closer and closer. One shot and she'd be done for: her whole life would end before it had the chance to begin.

"Green Three, report!" Green Leader shouted. Still no answer.

"I've got this one, Green Leader," Red Three stated.

The Y-wing shook and Rose screamed. For a moment, she feared that she'd been hit and would be dead now. But she was still alive, and there were fewer blasts aimed at her.

"You picked one up, watch it!" Luke said.

"I can't see 'im!" cried Red Three.

Just outside the canopy, Rose could see an X-wing dart off to the right while one of the Imperial fighters weaved after it, shooting green energy blasts. Suddenly, another X-wing appeared, blasting the two-winged Imperial fighter into dust.

"Fall in, group, fall in!" one shouted.

_Shoot them, shoot them!_ the read-out said.

"Green Three, are you alright?" Green Leader asked.

"I...I..." Rose stammered, her voice cracking. "I almost died!"

"Rose? Is that you?" Luke asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I've got to find the Doctor," she breathed. "He's still on the station."

"Negative," Green Leader replied. "You stick to the mission. If there are any friendlies on that battle station, there's no hope for them."

"No!" sobbed Rose. "I can't let him die!"

"Rose, listen..."

"No, _you_ listen! If you've ever known the Doctor as much as I have, you'd be right alongside with me."

"Watch your back, Luke, watch your back! Fighters above you, coming in."

Rose saw an X-wing flying unsteadily across her view-port, pursued by two enemy fighters. One of them opened fire and it struck the X-wing.

"I got you, you little bugger!" Rose exclaimed. Squeezing the controls, she sent a few laser blasts from her Y-wing's nose cannons that evaporated the last fighter. But there was still one left.

"Red Two, can you see Red Five?" Red Leader asked.

The radio broke, and then on came Red Two. "Red Five, where are you?"

"I can't shake him!" Luke cried.

"I'm on him, Luke, hold on." Red Two said.

The destruction of that one fighter gave Rose the much-needed control over herself. Her breathing was a bit easier, but her hands were sweating. Now she looked again for a hangar entrance on the station below. But what she did not know was that most of the hangars had closed their blast-shields: they all looked as gray as the rest of the battle station.

_Oh my God, I'm never gonna be able to find him in time_, lamented Rose to herself.

"Blast it, Wedge, where are you?" Luke lamented.

Suddenly, there was a brilliant explosion that one of the X-wings flew through triumphantly.

"...od shooting, Wedge," Gold Leader said, though the radio broke and the beginning was cut off. "Red Leader, this is Gold Leader. We're starting our attack run."

"I copy, Gold Leader," Red Leader replied. "Move into position. Blue Group, Green Group, let's give them a smooth send-off. Finish off these fighters."

"But they just keep coming, sir!" Luke exclaimed.

"Then we keep shooting them down, Red Five," Red Leader said.

_Death Star will be in range in five minutes_, announced the voice from the Rebel base, even as Gold Squadron had shot down into the trench of the battle station.

"I ca-I can't do it," Rose began to mutter to herself hysterically. "I don't know where he's at! Thi-This was just brilliant, jumping into a space ship you don't even know how to use, then throwing yourself into the middle of a battle you don't know which side you want..."

"Uh, Green Three, your comm's still live," Green Leader said.

"Oh, right, brilliant." Rose sighed.

Five minutes seemed up all too quickly. One by one, Gold Squadron had been gunned down, leaving only one Y-wing from them left, hovering above with Green and Blue Squads. Red Leader left Reds Two, Three and Five with the others while he and two other X-wings ran the trench. Rose was left among then, listening as one by one, Red Leader's wing-mates were shot down. Then he reached the target, fired his proton torpedoes.

And missed. Rose let out a sigh of relief, although she didn't know why. Time was almost up, with only three minutes left to go before the battle station had targeted the moon with the Rebe base, and if the Rebels failed to destroy the Death Star, it would be the end for them. And then where would she go? She didn't know how to pilot this thing, or even where she was in this galaxy, or how long it would take her to get back to her own world and her own time. If what the Doctor said was true, and it usually was, she was two thousand years in the past. No, there could be no going back, not the conventional way. She _had_ to find the Doctor, or else she'd be trapped in time.

"Biggs, Wedge, let's close it up," Luke said, as soon as the static of the explosion from Red Leader's demise faded from out of their comm-sets. "We're going in, and we're going in full throttle. That outta keep those fighters off our backs."

"Right with you, boss." Wedge, whose call-sign had been Red Two, replied.

"Luke, at that speed, will you be able to pull out in time?" asked Red Three, who was obviously Biggs.

"It'll be just like Beggar's Canyon back home," Luke assured his wing-mate and old friend.

Meanwhile, just above their heads, Rose watched as the final run on the Death Star took place. Three fighters descended upon the trench, and then Red Two pulled out, having suffered severe damage. Red Three was gunned down, and once again, Rose had to hear the sound of someone dying right in her ears, and she could still hear Luke's shocked cries as Biggs, his best mate, was instantly incinerated.

Thirty seconds left. Suddenly Luke was hit, he exclaimed that R2 was lost. Rose's stomach dropped as she heard another voice in her ears from the head-set in her helmet.

_The Death Star has cleared the planet. The Death Star has cleared the planet._

"I have to do something," Rose said. "I'm coming, Doctor!"

She broke formation, moving her Y-wing into a diving run with the Death Star. She would find the hangar bay, or she would blast a hole open in the side of this infernal space station with all the bombs and torpedoes her ship had left and make an entrance. The Rebellion had failed. All she could do now was hope that she would find the Doctor before she herself was captured. Maybe then they would end up together, perhaps to be killed for aiding the Rebellion.

Suddenly, the radio crackled as another communication line broke their transmission barrier. A sudden whoop brought her out of her suicidal stupor and she heard another voice she thought she'd never heard, saying words that made her heart drop.

"You're all clear, kid, now let's blow this thing and go home!" cried Han Solo.

Too late. Still Rose vainly hoped that Luke had missed. Red Leader's attempt at a proton torpedo launch against the target had failed, he might, especially being an inexperienced pilot, as opposed to how long Red Leader had flown. If she ever believed in God, or prayed, it was now: and that was that, no matter what would happen afterwards, Luke's torpedoes would miss. She had to have more time, she _had_ to get back on-board the Death Star and save the Doctor before all was lost.

Suddenly, her view-screen was filled with a brightness like a thousand burning suns. It reminded her of her first trip with the Doctor, when she had seen the sun go supernova and destroy the Earth.

"NO!" she screamed, striking in vain the controls of her ship and weeping as the burning wreckage swept past her like metal meteors.

She had been too late. She hadn't been strong enough, or fast enough, or brave enough, and now she, and she alone, was reaping the fruits of her weakness, her sluggishness, her cowardice. The last year, that had been wonderful beyond her imagining, was now little more than vapid memory, as ethereal as the fire of the burning Death Star that was now dissipating all around her from lack of oxygen. At last, only a few smoldering pieces of wreckage were all that was left, and Rose Tyler was forced to accept the awful truth.

The Doctor was gone.

* * *

**(AN: I had a hard time with this chapter, but not for the reasons you'd assume. My biggest peeve was what Rose should do during the Battle of Yavin. Originally, I wanted her moon-side, watching the battle in the sky. But then I remembered what she did in "The Parting of the Ways", and thought that she wouldn't do that, not if the Doctor were in peril and she thought there was even half a hope of saving him. So I did the next best MS thing for her to do apart from absorbing the Heart of the TARDIS: have her steal a Y-wing and try to land it in the Death Star during the battle.)**

**(The story's not over, so don't you dare leave!)  
**


	11. Departure

**(AN: After _that_ long chapter, here's a nice shorter one.)  
**

* * *

**Departure**

_London, 2012_

Amy Pond awoke, moaning softly as she roused herself out of slumber. Lying across from her was the sleeping form of her husband, Rory. She smiled, glad to have him with her, safe and sound. Too many times that had not been the case, and she was glad for the little moments of peace. Which was exactly what this was, she reminded herself. Last year, 2011, had been the Year of the Slow Invasion by the Shakri. Predictably, Earth had survived, thanks in no small part to the valiant efforts of the two most-beloved men in her life: Rory and the Doctor.

The Doctor promised that he'd visit them from time to time after the invasion. Of course, she knew, that any number of things could be happening between the time the quirky, bow-tie-wearing Timelord disappeared and when he re-appeared again. The universe might have collapsed and rearranged itself all in the blink of an eye, or an invasion of Cybermen might have been halted all thanks to the ceaseless vigil of the Doctor. That was what was so brilliant about the Doctor.

As Amy was rising out of bed, Rory stirred where he lay.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"Almost eeght," Amy replied. "Ye better get ah move-oin."

"Right," Rory said, turning over and rubbing his eyes as he started to wake up. "Oh, wait a minute, it's Sunday, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"I'm not on call today," Rory added. "So why'd you wake me up so early?"

"I wannae have breakfast with ye," Amy answered. "Just th' two o' us."

"What's the occasion?"

"No need," she said. "It's jus' been a while since we've had a few deeys t' ourselves."

"Oh, alright."

Moments later, after they had showered and gotten their teeth and hair together, Rory and Amy went into the kitchen to eat. Amy placed a few slices of bread into the toaster, and then began watching a kettle of tea while frying eggs in a pan with the other hand.

"I can do that, love," Rory offered.

"It's alreeght," Amy insisted. "I can cook, ye knoi."

"But since we're both up, might as well help you out," Rory continued.

"Hun, we ne'er get dees like this," she said. "Where it's just you an' aye, havin' a normal breekfas' withoot the world comin' to an end about our heeds."

For one brief moment, Amy noticed her husband's lips curl into what looked like a smile. He then covered himself by chuckling, and she laughed as well as he wrapped his arms about her waist and planted a kiss on the nape of her neck.

Suddenly, there was a whooshing sound and Amy jumped. Both of them turned about and saw someone standing in their kitchen, someone who was not standing there when last they looked: someone who's presence usually spelled trouble.

"Hello, Mum. Hello, Dad." River Song greeted with a smile.

* * *

"Melody?" Amy asked. "What brings ye here?"

"Oh, is breakfast on?" River asked happily. "I would ask you to save a plate for me, but I'm not staying long."

"Wait, what?" Rory asked. "I mean, it's not like we don't enjoy having you over. You're, well, you're family, you can come over whenever you like."

"That's so sweet, Dad," smiled River. "But, we're on a tight schedule, so if you will excuse me..." River walked over to her parents, then removed a device from out of the jacket pocket of her jean jacket.

"What is that?" Amy asked. "Mels, is that...the Doctor's screwdriver?"

"Yes, actually." River replied matter-of-factually. She pointed its end at the far end of the room, and suddenly there was a series of whooshing sounds as the big blue box, the TARDIS, or Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, materialized in the midst of the Pond's kitchen. Once it was fully materialized, River lifted the sonic screwdriver to her lips and blew on it, as though it were a smoking gun. She then pocketed it again, and turned back to her bewildered parents.

"Well, come on, now," she said. "You didn't think I was gonna go off with you now, would I?" Amy and Rory stammered for a moment. "Listen, don't worry about your breakfast date, or whatever it is. I'll have you back before the tea's done, now come on!"

River sauntered merrily over to the TARDIS, where she opened the door and made her way into the larger-on-the-inside time machine/space ship. Rory and Amy slowly made their way up to the door and peeped inside, where River was getting the TARDIS ready for its next voyage.

"It looks a bit different on the inside," River said. "But it's still the same TARDIS. Come on, now, time's wasting, or it would be if this wasn't a time machine. Oh, don't worry, your stuff's already here. I came a few minutes early and packed your bags while you were sleeping." Rory gave her a very scathing look. "Oh, what are you gonna do, spank me?" Rory rolled his eyes.

"We might as well," Amy said, stepping over into the TARDIS. "Come oin, Rory. Are ye coming?"

"Yeah, sure," he nodded, joining the ladies inside the TARDIS.

"Mels, where's the Doctor?" Amy asked.

"Oh, he had some _very_ urgent business to take care of at the moment," River continued as she walked about the central control unit of the TARDIS, flipping switches and pulling levers. "Sends his regards and says he'll catch up soon, blah blah blah. Right, now, Mum, Dad, you might want to hold on, 'cuz it's gonna get real bumpy in a moment."

"Where are we going?" Rory asked.

"About two thousand years into the past," River said, placing her hands upon the lever that would activate the TARDIS' engines. "...in a galaxy far, far away."

The child of the TARDIS threw the switch, and off went the TARDIS through time and space, leaving London and the Pond house far behind.

* * *

**(AN: _Kelvington_'s parody had these three in it, and so I just couldn't resist bringing them in as well. Of course, this makes the timey-wimey all confused and such, but not to fret. Such hypothetical situations are the ones I love thinking out, so this should be loads of fun.)**

**(What do you think of my depictions of these three? I may have over-done Amy's brogue, but that was intentional. Nothing against Scottish people, it's just that my brother and I can't understand what she says half the time [and I can understand Ozzy's talking]. And I made Rory smile, because Rory needs to smile more, he rarely smiles as it is. And how about River? I was giggling inside when I made her say that line from the opening crawl.)  
**


	12. An Unexpected Arrival

**(AN: I hope you stuck through with the last three chapters. Sorry if it wasn't to your liking, better chapters to come. My brother has often commented that the amount of peril in _Doctor Who_ is always HUGE! I just thought I'd keep in that vein of epic story-telling.)  
**

**(Just when you think I'm gonna start another story-line, I go back to, well, you'll see.)  
**

* * *

**An Unexpected Arrival**

Three years of running, of hiding, of fighting. Three years since the Battle of Yavin, since the destruction of the Death Star. Those years had been hard on everyone in the Rebel Alliance, but for Rose Tyler, they had been even harder. Three years ago, she had lost the Doctor when the Empire's Death Star was destroyed. She was heart-broken at first, then angry at Luke. Even when Princess Leia tried to convince her that they could not have let the Death Star survive, as it would mean more and more genocide on a massive level, Rose continued to remain sullen and resentful.

Now her anger had turned to ice, just as cold as the frozen planet of Hoth on which the Rebel's new base was hidden. Though she was angry at Red Squadron, now reorganized as Rogue Squadron, for what they had done, she knew that they had only been a part of that problem. The Empire had gotten them into this mess, it was Darth Vader who struck down the Doctor, and she would make them pay for it. Day after day, she trained with the Rebel soldiers and soon learned how to fire a blaster rifle, and was on the front-lines with them in almost every engagement. She didn't care anymore if she would die, for life without the Doctor seemed to have no meaning.

But it was a long, hard and cold night, this one on the ice planet of Hoth. Luke Skywalker had disappeared during a routine scouting mission, and Han Solo, who had been promoted to Captain due to his part in the Battle of Yavin and more or less caught up with the Rebellion in the past three years, had gone out in search of him. Now they had both gone beyond communications range and were assumed lost. With temperatures below freezing constantly and even worse at night, the heavy shield-doors of the Rebel's base, nicknamed Echo Base, could not remain open all night or else risk the death of those in the base.

There she stood, leaning against a support strut of the _Millennium Falcon_, parked within the recesses of the main "hangar" of the base, actually a giant cave that the Alliance had used and expanded by way of tunneling through the snow. She looked outside as the doors began to close. The howling wind reminded her of the screams of the dying she had heard: even the last dying cries of the pilots who died during Operation: Skyhook still rang in her ears. And that memory only led her back to that day, when the Doctor left her life forever.

The doors closed with a sudden finality, as though fate were punctuating her sorrow. Nearby, the Wookie Chewbacca bellowed mournfully at the loss of his companion, while Princess Leia looked on emotionless at the heavy durasteel doors.

"Good riddance," Rose murmured beneath her breath, a wicked thought growing in the back of her mind.

She pulled the heavy white snow jacket closer to her body as she made her way to her quarters. It would be a cold night, and there would be no thermal heat to warm them. Too much and she's be drenched in melted snow that would not even begin to be warm. While she was walking off, she saw Princess Leia approach the same corridor she was about to enter.

"Excuse me, Your Highness," she said, averting her eyes.

"You don't have to do that, Rose," Leia said, coming to a halt before the young girl. "Look, I know you're feeling upset about what happened. But it's been three years, you have to let it go."

"Upset?" scoffed Rose. "Upset doesn't even begin to describe how I feel." Her voice became icy cold once more. "But it doesn't matter, it's over."

"Rose, please," Leia continued. "Don't think you're the only one who's lost someone you love." She hesitated for a moment, then continued. "My father and mother were both on Alderaan at the time it..."

"Sorry," Rose said monotonously.

"But we have to move on," Leia insisted. "We can't just stop living our lives because tragedy happens."

"Tragedy?" Rose retorted. "I don't think you have anywhere to speak about tragedy. Yeah, your home got destroyed, I saw mine destroyed before my very eyes. But..." she sighed. "You just don't get it, do you?"

"What? What is it?"

"The Doctor," she began. "He showed me a better way to live. You don't just give up, you don't just let things happen. You put your foot down, you say 'no': you have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away!"

"But that's what we do," Leia replied. "What we have _been_ doing for the last three years, and before that. The Rebel Alliance was created by people like that, people who refused to give up when the Empire took away their freedom, who refused to let tyranny rule them, and we've all paid the price for our freedom. But we can't let our grief keep us from finishing this great conflict." She leaned in and placed her hand on Rose's shoulder. "The Doctor's death would have been in vain if you keep on sulking, refusing to fight on for what he believed."

Rose sniffled back ice cold tears, listening to every word Princess Leia said. She seemed earnest enough, and she seemed to believe that this cause was just as good as anything: Rose could see the sincerity in her words and how she addressed her.

"I can't," Rose dismissed. "I just can't."

She ran back to her quarters, ashamed of herself. She didn't seem willing to accept the Princess' words, but chose rather to remain in the sorrow of circumstance.

* * *

It was morning when Rose Tyler was awoken. Her face was red, lined with frozen tears, as she got up and threw her heavy jacket over her thermal clothing. Her normal, Earth clothes had been stowed away in a plasteel cargo case for when she would need them on more habitable worlds. Once she was thus arrayed, she noticed that there was someone at the door of her room. She pressed the door panel and one of the Rebel soldiers was there, standing just outside.

"Wotcher, Drex," she greeted.

"You're wanted at the main hangar bay," Feor Drex said. "Captain Solo and Commander Skywalker have returned, and you're being called there, by name."

Curiously, Rose made her way through the winding snow tunnels, eager to see why she was being called to the main hangar of the base. After passing through a series of doors, she came upon the hangar, its entrance flooded with daylight. In the center of the hangar, near the _Falcon_, a medical droid was assisting the carrying of Luke Skywalker to the medical bay. Standing nearby was the Princess, Captain Solo, heavily covered in snow, General Kenobi, and one who looked as though he had seen the worst of it. He was clad in a snow-suit, but he wore no head-gear and his short, spiky brown hair was generously frosted by the snow.

"Who's this?" Rose asked.

"He found us in the snow," Captain Solo replied. "Practically dragged us back to base."

"Hello, Rose," the strange man said with a cheerful countenance that did not sound at all like someone who had walked through the dead of a cold Hoth night. His accent was familiar, not at all like that of the people of the Rebellion. He reminded her of a drunk she had shared words with on New Year 2005.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"It's me, Rose," the man said, still beaming from side to side. "I'm the Doctor, and I'm back."

* * *

**(AN: See? Aren't you glad you stayed with the story? Because now TEN is here! [omg, I'm 'beaming from side to side' as well, lol]. You should have known I wasn't going to kill off the Doctor!)**

**(Obviously he's my favorite Doctor. Oh wait, I included Feor Drex, an OC from _Star Wars: Rebellion_. Don't read that, it's a lost cause. I had originally wanted to tell his story, that of an Alliance front-line soldier, but got caught up in school [which I should be doing now] and other stories. He'll definitely get page-time [as opposed to air-time or screen-time] in this story.)  
**


	13. Attack in the Night

**(AN: One thing I love about _Star Wars_ fics, and what prompted _Rebellion_, was all the cut content I could restore. You're about to see some of that content in this story, only now we've got timey-wimey and all of that fun stuff as well :D)  
**

* * *

**Attack in the Night**

"Lieutenant!" Feor Drex announced.

Rose Tyler turned about at the inquiry. She had left shortly after seeing what had happened in the hangar bay, since it was all together too hard to believe. Luke was on his way to the infirmary, and she needed some alone time. She just couldn't believe that the Doctor was back: it was what she had long-wished for, and yet now she could not believe it.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I mean 'sir'," Drex apologized. "I shouldn't have raised my voice. You outrank me, after all."

"It's alright, private," she said replied with an absent-minded tone. "What is it you want?"

"General Rieekan has requested your presence at Commander Skywalker's debriefing," Drex reported.

"Oh, right, I'll be there in a minute." she said.

Wrapping her cold-suit's jacket about herself, Rose made her way through the tunnels to the command center. When she arrived, she found several others standing about, among them were General Rieekan, General Kenobi, Captain Solo, Commander Skywalker and the Princess. And _he_ was there as well.

"Hello, Rose," the Doctor said with a smile.

"General?" Rose asked, turning to Rieekan. "Why am I here? This is more of a senior officer's meeting, eh?"

"On the contrary," General Rieekan replied. "You're our senior expert on this man." He gestured to the Doctor.

"Bu-But," she stammered. "But I don't know if he's actually _the_ Doctor. I mean..."

"His presence is still the same as it was when we first met in the Jundland Wastes," Obi-wan stated.

"Yeah, listen to ol' Ben, he's got a point," the Doctor said. "I'm the same man, just with a different face."

"I just..." Rose continued. "It's difficult to say. I thought you were dead! I mean, the last time I saw you, you were struck down by Darth Vader, and then the Death Star was destroyed! I mean, how did you escape that?"

"All in good time," the Doctor said. "Meanwhile, as I am the senior _senior_ member here..." He turned to General Rieekan. "Sorry, general, I'm a Timelord, I outrank everyone." He turned back to the others. "Now, Luke, what exactly happened out there?"

"I was finishing my scouting rounds when I was attacked," he replied. "Some kind of big snow creature with horns and huge hands."

"Either a Yuzzem or a Wampa," the Doctor suggested.

"Sounds like the Abominable Snowman," Rose added.

"Who knows, maybe the Yeti's a Wampa that got lost," the Doctor replied. "There's a black market trade for 'em."

"Do you think it might come back?" Rieekan asked.

"I don't know," Luke replied. "I used the Force to escape, and the creature's arm was cut off. It might find its way back here."

"Even if it doesn't," Han added. "I don't think it would be wise to ignore this. Where there's one, there's more of 'em."

"You're right, Solo," Rieekan stated. "We'll increase our security, to make sure we don't have another incident like this. Dismissed."

One by one they started to leave, and while they were leaving, Rose made her way to the strange, thin man with the spiky brown hair and big brown eyes that, even though she knew were not those of the Doctor she had grown to know and love, were just as mesmerizing and unavoidable. Once they met up, they began walking leisurely down the hallways of snow.

"Rose Tyler," the Doctor said with a smile as she approached. "It's been too long."

"Yeah, it has," she replied, with arms crossed.

"I owe you an apology," he said, his smile fading. "There was something I had to do, but I should have thought about you. Thirteen years is too long a time..."

"Wait a minute, thirteen years?" Rose laughed. "You were only gone for three."

"Yeah, maybe for you," the Doctor replied, scratching the back of his neck. "For me, it was longer, a _lot_ longer, more like thirteen years."

"What were you doing for thirteen years?"

"Tracking the Master," the Doctor said. "Something happened in the past, well, in the future, but it's the past because it's in the past of _this_ galaxy. But it's the future because we haven't done those events yet, so technically it's both past and future at the same time. Anyway, long story short, I thought the Master died during the Time War, but apparently he survived."

"Who is the Master?"

"A renegade Timelord," the Doctor replied grimly. "The worst ever. Somehow he managed to go back in time and manipulate events to where he became the head honcho of the Empire: Darth Vader."

"That's what you were doing for thirteen years?" Rose asked.

"Yeah," he nonchalantly replied. "It's already happened, so it's all in the past. It's alright telling you and all." He suddenly became much more jovial. "But the important thing is that I'm back and I've got a brand new face. What do you think?"

"You look...younger."

"Yeah?" the Doctor replied.

"Yeah, and your hair's nice."

"Covers the open car-door ears I had before," the Doctor began rambling. "But I'm not ginger. I wanna be ginger, you know? I've been white-haired, dark-haired, blond-haired, brown-haired, but not ginger. So, Lieutenant..."

"You heard?"

"I'm surprised you didn't go farther," the Doctor said. "You deserve it."

"I didn't really wanna leave the lines," Rose replied. "But I guess that's not really an option now."

"Look, I'm sorry," the Doctor apologized again.

"For what?"

"This isn't what I wanted for you," he shook his head. "To become a weapon, hard and remorseless. Three years of war, that's not the life I wanted for you. I promise you, Rose, the first chance I get, we're going back to Earth."

"Yeah," Suddenly, Rose remembered something which was at the back of her mind for a while, but which had been almost forgotten over what had happened since then. "Wait, what about the TARDIS?"

"It's in good hands," the Doctor replied. "Right now, though, something's about to happen."

"What?"

"It's not one for the history books, though," the Doctor shook his head. "The Rebellion's not exactly innocent. It's a war, after all, and there's atrocities on both sides. This one sees the captivity of some of the local creatures."

"The Wampas, right?"

"Yeah. The astromech droids' 'language'..." He waved his hands about. "...is similar to the female Wampa's mating call. It's gonna drive them out of the snow and into the base. They get imprisoned: not one of the best moments of the history of the Rebellion."

"Well, can't we do something?"

"Well, not exactly. You see..."

Suddenly, the cave wall exploded and a roar like a cross between an elephant and a sea lion was heard. The Doctor held his arms across Rose as a giant wooly creature appeared, with horns and huge, reptilian claws on its hands. Slowly it rose towards them, hands outstretched, bellowing menacingly.

"Doctor, do something!" screamed Rose.

The Doctor reached into his pocket and drew out his sonic screwdriver. A light flashed and a whistling sound echoed farther down the hallway. The giant snow creature turned its massive, horned head, then crashed into the snowy wall of the tunnel, disappearing.

"That should buy us some time," the Doctor said. "Now to the others, _allon-sy!_"

"Wait, what?"

"It's French, means 'let's go.'" the Doctor translated.

"But what did you do to it?"

"Nothing, just sent him the other way, come on now!" he set off running down the tunnel, with a perplexed Rose following on behind. By now, however, the alarms were blaring throughout the halls. Every so often, a tunnel would bulge or the radios would be filled with the roar of one of the creatures and the last, dying screams of some poor Rebel sentry. While they were running, Rose took her blaster pistol out of the holster on her hip, and readied it for whatever might attack them.

"Does that have a stun setting?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah," Rose said. "Why are you asking?"

"We're gonna need it," he replied. "And a comlink. Do you have a comlink?"

"Left it in my quarters," she stated. "This way."

They ran through the halls of snow, all the while watching the suspicious bulges in the ice, fearing what it would mean on the other side.

"What are they doing?" Rose asked, her blaster pistol aimed at the walls.

"They're swimming through the snow," the Doctor replied. "There's so much, they swim through it as though it were water."

On they went, around a corner and down another hall. From one end, they could hear one of the snow monsters bursting through the snow and attacking a group of soldiers. There was a cry and blaster fire, and Rose suddenly ran down the tunnel, blaster raised. When she reached there, however, it was too late. Two soldiers stood there, cowering in fright, and the snow was covered in blood. A hole had been torn in the side of the tunnel wall and a cold wind was blowing in through the opening.

"Report!" Rose ordered.

"I don't know what happened, ma'am," the soldier said. "The three of us were just walking through here, heading towards Zone 11, when the wall caved in. Lehman was carried off. We tried shooting at it, but it didn't seem to stop it."

"What was that thing?" the other soldier asked.

"A Wampa," the Doctor replied. "Predatory snow-creature, indigenous to this planet. Their hide is very thick, it would take more than a simple blaster to take one of them down."

"Then how do we fight them, Doctor?" the first soldier asked.

"It's not just here, is it?" the other one added. "I've heard the radio, it's all over the base. They're tearing through the tunnels, attacking at random!"

"These aren't random attacks, soldier," the Doctor said, looking at one end of the tunnel. There, buried half-way into the snow-wall was an R2 unit.

"Comlink, I need a comlink!" ordered the Doctor.

Rose found Lehman's com, lying in the red snow, wiped it off on her knee, then gave it to the Doctor. He pointed his sonic screwdriver at it, then lifted the mouth-piece up to his lips.

"Commander Skywalker, come in," he ordered. "Luke, are you there?"

"Doctor?" the young commander's voice sounded on the other end. "Can't talk right now, we're kind of busy here."

"It's alright, get C-3PO on the com," the Doctor ordered. "Right now."

There was silence, and then the mechanical voice of the protocol droid.

"Hello, Doctor!" the droid said. "It's very good to hear that you have return..."

"Alright, just shut and listen to me!" exclaimed the Doctor. "The snow creatures, they're attracted the noises made by astromech droids. They think it's a mating call from the females of their species."

"Why, Doctor!"

"Listen, there's no time. Find Major Derlin and inform him of this. Maybe you can find a way to control their movements, get them out of the base."

"Yes, sir. Right away, sir." The Doctor tossed the comlink aside, then pocketed his sonic screwdriver.

It was over in a matter of minutes. The attacks ceased first, and then it was reported that four of the beasts had been stunned: the rest had scattered. Once the alarms went off, the Doctor went in search of Major Derlin. He found him along a corridor between the hangar and the command center. Droids, soldiers and load-lifting machines were dragging the huge beasts into a separate room.

"What the hell is going on?" the Doctor asked.

"General's orders," Derlin replied. "We're keeping a few of these in the base for study."

"They need to be released immediately!" the Doctor insisted.

"General Rieekan believes we can learn how to prevent another such attack by having a few of them with us to analyze," the major said. "If you have a problem with it, take it up with the general."

They went about their business, while the Doctor looked on grimly at one of the huge Wampas being dragged into the corridor. At his side was Rose, watching as well with an unreadable expression.

"This isn't right," the Doctor said.

* * *

**(AN: Happy Thanksgiving! Here's a treat for you! One thing I'm thankful for, aside from _Doctor Who_, the original trilogy of _Star Wars_, _Wookieepedia_ and _TARDIS __wiki_, are your reviews. Keep 'em coming!)**

**(There is the long-cut Wampa attack, and the set-up for another cut scene from the Battle of Hoth. I considered having the Doctor convince General Rieekan to release the Wampas, since that would allow for...well, you'll see. And yes, Rose got a rank. I thought lieutenant would do, since that rank can still go into battle, and that's what she's been wanting to do since she believed the Doctor was dead. [lol, all the Rebels would be saying it as I would, while Rose, the Doctor and the Imperials would call it 'left-tennant'])  
**


	14. The Last Words

**(AN: So, while waiting for Thanksgiving dinner, I come back here, shore up a few mistakes in the previous chapters and now give you a new chapter update. Oh, I don't own the thing or things to which I'm about to reference that are neither Whovian nor _Star Wars_-ian. Lol, _Star Wars_ fans don't have a nickname, like Whovians.)  
**

* * *

**The Last Words  
**

"Princess, we have a visitor," General Rieekan said.

It was the morning after the Wampa attack in Echo Base's command center. The Doctor and Lieutenant Tyler followed Princess Leia and Han Solo to the command center, where they were being debriefed on something.

"We picked up something outside of the base's Zone 6." the General said.

"It's metal," the technician said.

"Then it couldn't be one of those creatures," Leia stated.

"Is it a speeder?" Rose asked.

"No," Rieekan replied. "None of the T-47s have been sent out."

"Wait," the technician interrupted. "There's something very weak coming in."

He adjusted the volume on his set, and a series of electronic beeps came onscreen. Rose turned to the Doctor, who had a grave expression on his face.

"Sir," C-3PO interjected. "I am fluent in over six million forms of communication. This signal is not used by the Alliance, it could be an Imperial code."

"Well, whatever it is," Solo said. "It isn't friendly. Chewie and I will check it out."

"I'm going with you," the Doctor added.

* * *

Outside the base, the wind was howling and snow was everywhere. Even though the winters on Gallifrey had been bad, even the Doctor found out that going unprotected out into a Hoth winter was not good in the slightest. So he borrowed a cold suit and joined Captain Solo and Chewbacca as they made their way towards Zone 6. They were hiding behind a huge snow drift, where just beyond they could hear a low, humming sound.

The plan, if there had indeed been a plan, was for Chewbacca to act as a distraction, in case the droid were armed. From his snow drift, the Wookie emerged and growled at the droid. A blast shot at the snow-drift, narrowly missing the large, snow-covered Chewbacca. From the other side, Han Solo appeared, blaster ready to shoot first and ask questions later.

"No! Don't shoot!" shouted the Doctor. He whipped out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the droid. The screwdriver emitted a high frequency pulse, then the droid collapsed. Han and the Doctor ran towards the fallen droid and began examining it. Chewie joined them, receiving Han's congratulation for his part, while the Doctor pressed the comlink on the wrist of his glove.

"Echo Base, come in," he said. "This is Blue Box, come in, Echo Base."

"This is Echo Base," a woman's voice said on the other end. "I read you, Blue Box, over."

"Toryn Farr?" the Doctor asked. "Is that you? How's your sister? How's Chandrila? Oh, bugger it, I'm rambling. Look, put me through to the General."

A moment later, General Rieekan's voice came on the comm.

"Doctor?"

"It's a droid," the Doctor reported. "A Viper probe droid, commonly known as a 'probot.' It's equipped with a self-destruct mechanism in case it got discovered. It was transmitting just a few moments ago."

"It's a good bet the Empire knows we're here." Han added.

* * *

"'Blue Box?'" Rose asked, once the Doctor was safely back in Echo Base.

"Yeah, I like it," he said. "It's a good call-sign, good as any. The only other option was 'Jelly Baby', and I'm not gonna do something stupid, like 'Carlos Spicy Wiener', I mean, who the hell even comes up with that? That's just...dense!"

"But have you found it?"

"Found what?"

"The TARDIS!" Rose continued. "I mean, if you found what I think you found, then the Empire's on its way here and we gotta go, right?"

"Yeah."

"So, do you have the TARDIS or not?"

"TARDIS is safe," the Doctor said. "Although, it's not on me right now. I'll be there when I need her."

"'Her?'"

"Oh, you know how things go," the Doctor continued. "The Doctor and his TARDIS, traveling the universe together. Gets rather lonely, so you refer to your ship as your companion. Not just me, though, Captain Kirk did it too with the Enterprise."

"Captain Who?"

"Oh, never mind." the Doctor dismissed. "So, what happens now?"

"I guess we're packin' up," Rose said.

While they were walking down the tunnel towards Rose's quarters, they happened to see Luke Skywalker in full pilot regalia, lacking on his helmet, making his way away from where they had been going.

"Hello, Doctor." he greeted.

"Oh, hello Luke," the Doctor replied. "Everything fine? You sure look like you've recovered."

"Thank you," the young pilot said. "I just gotta report to the briefing, which should be in an hour or two."

"Briefing?"

"Yeah, we're evacuating the base," Luke began. "But we're sure the Empire will try to land ground troops, since the base itself is protected by a heavy shield generator."

"How heavy?"

"Only one thing could penetrate it, and we destroyed it three years ago," Luke said.

"_You_ destroyed it, you mean," Rose said, but her countenance wasn't as grim as when she usually said those five words.

"Well, it wasn't just me, everyone was involved..."

"Luke," from the other end of the hall appeared Obi-wan.

"Ben!" Luke exclaimed. "Why aren't you getting ready to leave? The transports should be getting everything ready just now."

"Luke, listen to me," Obi-wan said. "If anything happens to me, I want you to continue your Jedi training. Go to the Dagobah system, seek out Yoda, the Jedi Master who instructed me. If I cannot complete your training, he will."

"But, that's crazy," Luke dismissed. "You'll still be here, won't you?"

_Attention!_ _All flight crews report to Hangar 1 for debriefing._

"I gotta go," Luke said. "Rose, good luck on the ground out there. Doctor, take care of yourself."

"Go get 'em, Skywalker," the Doctor returned.

Luke left, after which Obi-wan as well left the corridor to meditate. The Doctor, meanwhile, turned to Rose.

"'Good luck on the ground out there?' What does he mean by that?" he asked.

"Well, I am helping the defense of the base," Rose said.

"I'm sorry, Rose, but I can't let that happen."

* * *

**(AN: A rather short chapter, with some funny moments [and various references to outside sources, such as _Star Trek_, _Family Guy's_ ESB parody "Something Something Something Dark Side" and such], and more that you shall soon see.)  
**

**(And horay for the reviews! Now I'm getting attacked by fan-girls for sticking to what _Kelvington_ wrote in his own parody. But it makes sense and creates a need for what you will see in the second part of this story [because _The Doctor's Star Wars_ is only the first part]. I'd really love to explain it, to put your doubts to rest, but I can't. In the words of River Song..."spoilers.")  
**


	15. Battle of Hoth

**(AN: I just realized that I had the Doctor mention that the TARDIS was 'safe' twice in two different chapters. Well, you know where it went. It was hiding in plain sight. New chapter, yay!)  
**

**(One thing you'll see a lot in this story, apart from quips from the Whovian universe and other sci-fi universes, are my explanations for what happens in the _Star Wars_ saga. When I first watched the original trilogy, I had no problem with the believability of the story. However, my brother - a prequel trilogy fan, I might add - joined Seth McFarlane in saying that Leia had no business debriefing Alliance troops since she's 'just a princess' and has no 'military training'. Well, the canon says otherwise and that's the reason for the first two paragraphs or so.)  
**

* * *

**Battle of Hoth**

The base was a hive of activity. Just moments ago, a fleet of Stardestroyers were detected exiting hyperspace. A ground assault was imminent. Everyone was scrambling to do something or other. General Kenobi was overseeing the evacuation, Luke Skywalker would be among the Rogue Squadron pilots to fly the speeders in the defense of the base, Lieutenant Tyler would go with her platoon to the snow trenches on the ground outside the base, and Captain Solo and Chewbacca were busy getting the _Millennium Falcon_ ready for take-off.

The Doctor, meanwhile, watched as Princess Leia gave the debriefing for the pilots. Though many originally considered her to be nothing more than a figurehead, Leia had tactical knowledge and had assisted in many successful missions since her entrance into the Alliance. Needless to say, people listened to what she had to say, if only by reputation of her presence at many victorious skirmishes of the Rebellion.

"All troop carriers will assemble at the north entrance," she said to the pilots gathered in a circle around her. "The heavy transports will leave as soon as they're loaded, only two fighter escorts per ship. The energy shield can only be open for a short time, so you'll have to stay very close to your transports."

"Two fighters against a Stardestroyer?" objected Derek Klivian, one of the pilots in Rogue Squadron, nicknamed 'Hobbie.'

"The ion cannon will fire several shots to make sure that any enemy ships will be out of your flight path," Leia continued. "When you've gotten past the blockade, proceed directly to the rendezvous point. Understood?" The pilots murmured their agreement. With a word of "Good luck", they were at last dismissed.

The Doctor, meanwhile, was on his way out of the hangar, when Princess Leia ran toward him.

"Doctor!" she announced. "I need to ask you something."

"Sure, go ahead."

"I'm afraid you haven't been given any duty during the coming battle," she said.

"Oh, that's alright," the Doctor dismissed. "I never carry a weapon. Not exactly a fighting person anymore."

"Will you help with the evacuation? Where's your ship?"

"I was dropped off, quite literally," the Doctor replied. "I'll do what I can, though. But I need to know, will Rose be safe?"

"I'm sorry, Doctor," Leia shook her head. "I can't guarantee that."

She left back to the command center, while the Doctor made his way towards the cave entrance of the base. If they couldn't guarantee Rose's safety, then there was only one being in the whole universe who could, and that was him.

* * *

The Doctor was walking on the snow as he saw the clouds gathering on the horizon. But he knew they weren't clouds, but thousands upon thousands of metric tons of snow, blown up into the air by the landing of the huge Y-85 Titan Imperial dropships. Of course, the Empire using such heavy transports could only mean one thing: the AT-ATs were being deployed.

From where he stood, the Doctor's hearts paused for a moment in their beats as he realized the people in the trenches were doomed. While the Empire and the Rebellion hadn't reached the technological capability of the Timelords or the Cybermen to cause mass-scale destruction and carnage, these metal monsters were both a tactical and a psychological menace on the field of battle. Even worse, he knew the outcome of this battle. Even though he knew the timeline had already been disrupted, he had an awareness of how events were supposed to run. Those in the trench saw the worst of the battle, and many of them did not make off planet alive.

"Echo Base, this is Blue Box," the Doctor said, putting the com-device on the wrist of his snowsuit up to his lips. "Need Lieutenant Tyler's location. I repeat, where is Lieutenant Rose Tyler?"

"Echo base to Blue Box," Far's voice replied. "Check in with Echo Station 3-T8, that's where she's positioned. Keep this channel clear, we need to communicate with Ion Control, over."

Suddenly, the roar of engines was heard and overhead, the Doctor saw a transport ship take off, guarded by two X-wing escorts. Mere moments later, there were three, deafening booms. Three light blue pulses shot off into the sky, soon becoming nothing more than little blue stars that eventually vanished in the morning sky.

"Blue Box, this is Echo Base," Toryn Far's voice said. "The ion cannon is recharging, and I just heard back from ES 3-T8. I'm sending you their frequency, call-sign is Bad Wolf. Repeat, Lieutenant Tyler's call-sign is Bad Wolf, over and out."

"Confirm, Echo Base." the Doctor replied. "Blue Box out." For a moment he looked back across the fields of snow, searching the cloud of snow in the distance to see if they had arrived yet. But furthermore, he wondered what was the significance of 'Bad Wolf.' If there was one thing this incarnation of the Doctor carried over from the last one, it was the desire to remain one step ahead of everyone and never let any mortal 'pull one over' on him.

The Doctor now made his way along side the huge Ion Cannon, whose location was within close proximity to the main entrance to Echo Base, upon the wall of the mountain whose face had the cave entrance that was Echo Base. There were still many kilometers to go till he reached the front lines, where Lieutenant "Bad Wolf" was located.

"Blue Box to Echo Station 3-T8," he began. "Bad Wolf, are you there?"

"Doctor?" Rose's voice sounded on the comm, but it was fuzzy and distorted. "Doctor are you...e?"

The Doctor placed his sonic screwdriver to the comlink, hoping to boost the signal, then spoke again: "Say that again, Rose."

"I said our transmissions are being jammed," Rose said. "There's a large snowstorm on the horizon. Wait, no! I can't see it, but the major's saying something about Imperial walkers."

"Rose, get outta there!" the Doctor ordered. "That place is going to be flattened in a few minutes."

"I'm sorry, Doctor," she replied. "But I'm not running away."

"Rose, I can't guarantee your safety!" the Doctor shouted. "My sonic screwdriver can't keep all the walkers from moving and firing at the same time."

"D...tor, I'll be f..." Rose's transmission started breaking up. "D...t worry...ut m..."

"Rose, come in. Rose, come in!"

Suddenly, the sound of blaster fire could be heard at the farthest end of the field. The Doctor could see red flashes, and then suddenly there were loud noises as the T-47 speeders roared overhead. Rogue Squadron was going out to aid the pilots in their defense. But the Doctor knew that they were not enough: most of the pilots would die before the day was out, and almost all of those on the ground would not survive. He had to be there, to insure that Rose would survive.

He set off, stomping through the thick snow as fast as he could. Even a Timelord could not defy the laws of gravity, not without his TARDIS, and he couldn't walk on snow as though it were the solid ground. By now, he was well past the main stretch of snow and was now making his way toward the trenches. He could now see them, looming out of the snowstorm; the mammoth AT-ATs. The All-Terrain Assault Transports, the Empire's greatest ground weapon, might not have been twenty meters, as some in the thick of battle, horrified by its size, would have reported, but it was definitely massive.

Now he was in the thick of it. The Imperial walkers, the AT-ATs, were now well within range of the base and laying down fire upon the tunnels just as well as the speeders, which were buzzing about their heads. Even as the Doctor bounded over a snow-drift and came to a halt in the snow-trench, he was suddenly reminded of just how horrible human warfare could be. Turbo-laser fire from the AT-ATs exploded like blood-red artillery rounds, making huge explosions of super-heated snow that burned whatever it touched. The rebels laid down blaster-fire on the enclosing enemy, but to no avail. The air was filled with red blaster-fire and explosions.

"Doctor!" Rose shouted.

Turning about, he saw her, back to the wall of the trench, with a heavy repeating blaster rifle held in her arms. She didn't look shell-shocked at all, and that made the Doctor nervous. To see that look in her eyes, that hardened, steely look, meant that she was used to this, that she had become what he did not want her to be: a weapon.

"Glad to see you here, Doctor," she said calmly, though she was shouting over the roar of fire.

"Rose, you've got to come back!"

"What?"

"Come back with me!" he shouted. "This is no place for you."

"Actually, this is where I belong," she said. "And lucky thing you're here, too. We can use you." She stood up, placed her repeater on its stand, and sent a hail of blaster fire at one of the walkers.

"Me? What can I do, I don't have any weapons on me!" the Doctor replied. He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a few, brightly colored gelatinous sweets. "See? And I don't think a few Jelly Babies are going to stop the march of the Empire."

"What about the sonic screwdriver?" Rose asked, ducking back below as a hail of blaster fire rushed over her head. "Those walkers aren't wood, can't you do something about 'em?"

"Yes, but do you realize what kind of power usage that would mean?" the Doctor began. "I'd have to shut down the locomotors, shut down the cannons, shut down their communications, not to mention the manual release for the doors."

"Doors?"

"They're troop carriers!" the Doctor added. "And that's just one. There's at least six heavy walkers out there, not to mention the dozens of AT-STs."

"Damn chicken-walkers," Rose cursed, then jumped back up to send another barrage of fire, then ducking again. "Your point being?"

"The sonic screwdriver doesn't have unlimited power," the Doctor stated. "Any continued use, especially on something so massive, and with so many of them, would require a heavy power drain, and I can't recharge it without the TARDIS."

"Well, what _can_ you do?" Rose shouted, then went back up, and froze in her tracks.

"Rose, what is it?"

"The walkers," she said. "They're unloading foot soldiers." Suddenly, a small thing came flying over the wall of the trench, flashing red as it fell into the white snow.

"Grenade!" shouted the Doctor. He pulled Rose aside and ran, trying in vain to get as much distance between them and the detonator before...

There was a deafening explosion, heaving snow in every direction. Both Rose and the Doctor were almost completely covered in snow. For a moment, they were both still, then the Doctor stirred, pushing himself up through the snow and pulling Rose up with him. Suddenly, they heard screams on the other side of the trench. The Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver, which beeped, then clicked it off.

Suddenly, there appeared the image of a snowtrooper, a stormtrooper in armor specifically designed for battle on snowy worlds. In his hand was a long weapon with an open snout, but it seemed to be no longer working. As soon as the trooper appeared, Rose drew out a blaster pistol from her belt and took him down at six meters.

"He was clearing the trench with that flamethrower," Rose said, pointing to the long weapon beneath the trooper's body. "I saved more lives than I killed."

"Any one life lost is a tragedy," the Doctor said.

"I don't think you have any place to tell me about life and death," Rose said. "Your hands aren't the cleanest around here either."

"Yes!" the Doctor shouted as the sound of grinding locomotors from the AT-ATs came closer. "And I know what killing does to a person, and believe me, I don't want that to happen to you. Now let's go!"

"I can't abandon my post!" Rose shouted.

Heavy snow was now blasting about as another lander was making its way near at hand. Both Rose and the Doctor peered up over the edge of the trench, and saw just what situation they were in. The AT-ATs were within blaster range, the AT-STs were reeking havoc among the trenches, shooting thermal detonator grenades from the rocket pods on the sides of their square cockpits, and just in front, they saw an advance of snowtroopers marching towards their trench. At their head was a huge shadow, a black shade leading the army of white-clad troops.

"It's him," the Doctor murmured, barely audible over the sounds of battle.

"Darth Vader," Rose added.

"Run!" shouted the Doctor, dragging her down toward the end of the trench, which led into an outpost station. This, like all of them, were connected to Echo Base by a series of tunnels that snaked through the snow and ice. At the entrance, several laser turrets were taking pot-shots at the impervious leg armor of the AT-ATs.

"It won't take them long to reach us," the Doctor said.

"You just pulled me away from my post!" Rose exclaimed. "They could court marshal me for this, you know!"

"Oh, bugger it!" the Doctor replied. "They're still just the Rebel Alliance, not the New Republic. They need all the help they can get, and they won't court marshal you if they need you."

Suddenly, the outpost structure started shaking as heavy blaster fire shook it. The Doctor and Rose jumped back behind the console with the station operator.

"Corporal!" shouted the Doctor. He pressed the comlink button on the console, and a red light flashed.

"Imperial troops have entered the base!" Corporal Jobin reported. "Imperial troops have entered the..."

But before he could finish, the console was blown apart by blaster fire. The Doctor, Rose and Corporal Jobin backed away, as an onslaught of snowtroopers poured through the now useless defenses. The Doctor reached into his suit's pocket and activated the blue blade of his lightsaber.

"Get behind me!" he shouted.

A hail of blaster fire erupted, and the Doctor's blade arced gracefully this way and that, keeping the two behind him.

"Corporal!" shouted the Doctor. "Get your men out of here!"

"Wait, Doctor!" the young man said, turning to the Doctor. "Take this!"

"Kind of busy right now!" shouted the Doctor.

"Here, give it to me," Rose said, accepting the small, cylindrical device from Corporal Jobin.

"If I don't make it out alive," he said to Rose. "Give this to Mon Mothma, make sure she gets it!"

"Why?" Rose shouted, then ducked as a stray blaster bolt struck the tunnel wall just next to her head. She fired back, then turned to the corporal.

"Just do it!" he shouted.

Though they were not watching, they were making their way slowly backward into the tunnel, farther away from the oncoming troops. They heard a faint noise heard from one of the base speakers on the wall of the intersection just behind them.

"Evacuation code sequence..." Toryn Far's voice was heard, fading and crackling in and out. "...ated. Repeat, all forces p...back. Retreat to the...sports and prepare for take-off. Echo Base signing off."

"There you are, Lieutenant!" shouted the Doctor as he deflected blaster fire into the wall of the cave. "Time to run!"

"After you, Doctor!" she added.

"_Allons-y!_" he shouted, dropping his defense for one moment and then, dragging Rose into the tunnel that branched off from the terminal to the right. Behind them, they could hear a cry, and then the blaster fire faltered. Then there were three successive blasts, while just beneath it the ominous, mechanical rasping breath of the Empire's most deadly weapon was heard.

"No!" Rose shouted. "Corporal!"

There was a choking sound, and then a body went flying across the opening. The Doctor grabbed Rose's sleeve and dragged her onward, down the tunnels as they made their way toward Echo Base. While they ran, the Doctor would periodically point his sonic screwdriver at the walls of the tunnel.

"What are you doing?"

"Breaking the supports," he replied. "Might cause a cave-in, especially with all those walkers above our heads, with footfalls that can be measured on the Richter scale."

While they ran, they passed by a door with a red and yellow sign on it. As soon as they appeared by it, there was a blast shot fired so close that the Doctor had to duck suddenly to avoid being hit.

"Blimey!" exclaimed the Doctor. "Do you always have to shoot first?"

"Rose!" Captain Solo shouted. "Doctor! Thought you were dead."

"We have to evacuate!" added the Princess. "This way!"

They ran past the door again, but while they turned down one tunnel, there was suddenly a cave-in. Han and the Princess, who were in front, were almost buried in freezing cold snow. The Doctor, meanwhile, was already turned toward the other way, their only escape. Rose had her blaster ready when, behind them, Han spoke into his comlink.

"Transport, this is Solo," he said. "Better take off, I can't get to you. I'll get her out on the _Falcon._"

With his arm around the Princess, Han Solo ran back the other way, with Rose and the Doctor following afterward. Once again they passed by the door they had just left, only to find that its sign had been torn off and there stood a bewildered C-3PO, who, after a brief bit of disorientation, soon made his ambling way after them.

Once more they entered the hangar, which was almost deserted save for the tall Wookie, standing in front of the _Millennium Falcon_, roaring for them, and General Kenobi in his snow-covered robes.

"General!" Leia shouted. "How goes the evacuation?"

"We're almost ready," the old Jedi said. "I felt a disturbance in the Force and came here to be safe."

"Hurry up, Goldenron!" Han shouted back down the tunnel at C-3PO. "You're gonna become a permanent residence!"

"They're right behind us!" added the Doctor, as he and Rose rounded the corner and ran after Han into the _Falcon_. Leia and the old man turned to join them, and just at the rear came C-3PO, just barely making it. While he ran without hesitation towards the ship's loading ramp, Obi-wan turned back.

* * *

Meanwhile, on board the _Falcon_, Han was trying to start a cantankerous ship that had spent far too much time in the cold of Hoth. While Han was busy at an Engineering Station, the Doctor volunteered to run to the cockpit and get things working. Captain Solo protested, but the Doctor insisted.

"We're out of time!" he said. "I can help, I know how these YT-1300's work."

"Fine, then!" Han shouted, frustrated that his ship wasn't taking off already. "But get to it!"

The Doctor ran down the corridor and arrived at the cockpit, where he immediately got to work getting the _Falcon_ back online. He pressed a few buttons, the cabin lights flickered on then off. He used his sonic screwdriver on the console, and it came back online. He then clicked another button, and blaster fire shot out at the snowtroopers that were now filling the hangar. Suddenly, he saw a dark figure appear at the end of the hangar and knew that something wrong had happened.

"No, no, no, no!" he shouted, and suddenly sat himself at the helm, and tried to get the ship airborne. It struggled for a moment, and then suddenly came to an uneasy sit just a few centimeters above the ground.

"No!" shouted the Doctor again.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Darth Vader had come mere moments too late to do this, to use the Force to keep the _Millennium Falcon_ from leaving. But what had happened? He knew what the door with the sign meant, and it had been used, despite his advice to the contrary.

Suddenly, the ship came crashing back down to the ground. He watched as Obi-wan Kenobi walked towards the shadow, lightsaber raised, and engaged Darth Vader. The Doctor watched with horror as the lightsabers clashed. This was not supposed to happen. His presence had altered the timeline when he engaged with the Dark Lord instead of the old man. _He_ was supposed to have died on the Death Star, not the Doctor. Now time was irrevocably altered, and he feared what consequences it would have.

"Doctor, get us the hell outta here!" Solo's voice shouted angrily from the corridor.

With his face set, the Doctor hit the controls and the hangar started to spin until they were once again facing the exit. He hit the accelerator, and out they went, until they were engulfed in daylight. The Battle of Hoth was over.

* * *

**(AN: So many cameos in this story. Most of them are characters seen/heard in the movies, but their names are from the EU. Toryn Far was the only other woman in Echo Base [re-watch the Battle of Hoth from ESU, you can't miss her], and obviously Corporal Jobin had that one moment of dialogue before, well, you know.)**

**(And I'm aware that the timeline has been disrupted, and I'm also aware that most of you have aught against what I've written so far. But it has to happen, that was how _Kelvington_ wrote it, and it's important to what will happen later in the story.)  
**


	16. Arrival

**(AN: And now we go back to the other plot-line, lol)  
**

* * *

**Arrival**

The TARDIS' engines slowly came to a halt. River was the first one to stir, as she walked over to the door, opened it up, then turned back to her mother and father with her usual smile on her face.

"We're here," she said. "Mind, you might wanna wear something a little bit more substantial. It's a bit muddy out there."

"Where are we?" Rory asked.

"When are we?" added Amy.

"Two thousand years in the past, give or take five years," River began. "Farther away from Earth than you two have ever been."

"But where is that?" Amy asked.

"Go on, take a look," River offered, gesturing with her head towards the door. "I gotta raid the wardrobe for something appropriate. Not to mention my hair, this humidity's going to reek havoc on my curls!"

River went off to the TARDIS' wardrobe to get something appropriate, while Amy and Rory crossed the length of the TARDIS to the door. They opened the door to look outside. Where had once been their kitchen, there now stretched miles and miles of swamp forests. Strange, bat-winged creatures flew over the top of the TARDIS, hidden swamp creatures cooed and warbled in the mist that clung to the trunks of the massive trees.

"It's a bog!" Rory said.

"Mels, ye led us int'a swamp," Amy called back.

"It's a swamp planet," River said, as she made her way out of the wardrobe. She was now dressed in skin tight black pants and a black top, which she was zipping up while she arrived. Her hair had been pulled back into a curly, froofy tail at the back of her head and she wore boots that looked ready for swamp marching.

"It's called Dagobah," she added, as she joined them at the doorway. "Well, go on then, get some boots on. We've got a few sticky miles to travel."

River waited at the door of the TARDIS while Amy and Rory went back to find appropriate clothes. Minutes later they returned, with both of them wearing hoodies with the hoods down and large boots good for walking through swamps. River stepped out of the TARDIS first, leading the way across a tussock of grass and swamp-weeds that led to an island out of the mist. River then turned back, pressing the sonic screwdriver in the direction of the TARDIS, and it locked. Then they went on their way again.

"Soo, Dagobuh," Amy suddenly spoke, after a few minutes of silence. "What can ye tell us about it, Mels?"

"It's a living, breathing zoo, pretty much," River said. "But there's something important about it: it's practically alive with the Force."

"The Force? What's the Force?" Rory asked.

"Maybe we should let the Doctor explain," River replied. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a flat, disc-like device. Holding it in the palm of her hand, she then pressed a button on the side and out appeared a hand-sized image of a young-looking man with wavy brown hair, a brown jacket and pants, and a red bow-tie.

_Hello, Ponds._ the image of the Doctor said. _Sorry about how things went, but I'm on a mission right now. I don't have time to explain the whole thing, but I'll let you in on a few secrets. I've brought you to this planet because there are a few things you should know. The Force. Most people think it's a kind of mystical energy field created by microscopic organisms in the cells of all living things called midi-chlorians, which is complete and utter bollocks. However, the Force _is_ real. I can't be there right now to teach you, but I've had River bring you to this place, Dagobah, to find a certain person, who will show you the path._

_Amy, I want you to do this. I want you to learn the ways of the Force. I chose you because you're the one who is capable of seeing things others can't, of being aware of things wrong in the timeline. Remember the crack in your wall? Well, you're more important than you realize, Amy. You also possess a certain amount of Force-sensitivity. With enough training, you can become a Jedi Knight. Listen now, all of you, because I want to make something perfectly clear. I've dipped into the future and seen that the timeline is in danger. Events in the past have altered the future you're now in. Whatever may happen next might not be according to the true timeline. I wish I had more time to elaborate on this subject, but I've got to amend the damage that's been done. So, now, Amy, train to become a Jedi, Rory, keep her safe and River...stay out of trouble. Geronimo.  
_

The image faded, and River placed the silver disc back into her pocket.

"So, that's it, then," River said. "I get to train my mother to become a Jedi."

"But weet, why do we 'ave to do this?" Amy asked.

"Uh, excuse me?"

"The Doctor said it was important." River replied.

"But it doesn't meek sense. Ah mean, it's noo lake we 'ave our oin laves to luve ootside our time wi'th' Doctor."

"Amy, Mels!" Rory interjected. "Quiet! Do you hear that?"

"What is it, dad?" River asked.

"I thought I heard footsteps," Rory replied, looking this way and that. "Very soft footsteps."

"Ah! Perceptive you are!" a croaking voice sounded from behind a tree.

The Ponds and River turned about suddenly, looking at where the voice had sounded. For the moment, they saw nothing, just a giant tree. River, meanwhile, stood in front of her parents, holding towards the tree the sonic screwdriver and a metal cylindrical device of roughly the same size.

"Wait, doesn't the screwdriver not work on wood?" Rory whispered.

"And this whole pleece is nothin' but wood." added Amy.

"There's something over there," River whispered back, then turned to the tree. "Alright, little fellow, come out and show yourself."

Moments later, a tiny figure appeared, hobbling forward on a little wooden cane. The thing must have barely come up to their knees, it was so small. It was green, with a wrinkled old face, wizened with many years. The thing wore simple clothes and the most notable thing about it were its two large ears, which extended from either side of his mostly bald head.

"Hmm, strangers you are, yes," the little thing croaked. "Come to this place you have. Hmm, answers you seek? Before you many have come, never returned have they."

"What do you mean, 'never returned have they?'" asked Rory. "What do they find?"

"Many dangers in this place of life, for the unwary," continued the little creature. "Ah, but perhaps, different you are, hmm?" He was now standing before them, looking up at them one at a time. When he came to River, his eyes seemed to grow larger.

"Mmm, strong is this one with the Force," he said, gesturing to River with his staff. "Of the Timelords she is."

"Weet, 'ow d'ye know about th' Timelords?" Amy asked.

"Whills there were," began the little one. "The Force they learned, first among the peoples of this world. Learned of it from Timelords legends say."

"Why do you talk like that?" Rory asked.

"Rory!"

"Ow!" groaned Rory, as he massaged his side, where Amy's elbow had struck him.

"But answered your questions I have, now mine you must," the creature said. "Why are you here?"

"Do you know the Doctor?" River asked.

"Ahh, Doctor! Powerful Timelord is he. Hmm, yes. Always running is he, running from what was long gone, I feel. Far did he run, far enough, perhaps...to escape..."

"Eskeepe what?" Amy asked.

"The Great Jedi Purge," the creature said. For a moment, he was pensive and his forehead crinkled in thought. Then he sighed, and pointed at Amy with his staff.

"The Force I sense in this one," he said. "But too old she is."

"Too old?"

"Yes, too old to begin the training."

"Master Yoda..."

"Hmm? How think you Yoda my name is?"

"The Doctor told me," River began. "Listen, something bad has happened. You can feel the Force, haven't you felt it?"

"Hmm," grumbled the little creature, closing his eyes. "Many things there are in this galaxy. The Force runs through it all. Many disturbances there are."

"The Doctor told me that something had happened," River continued. "That we need more Jedi than just one."

"Ah! For him do I watch, yes. The son of Skywalker."

"But he can't take the responsibility of this war all by himself," River replied. "The Doctor told me things would be different. We need more Jedi."

"But too old is she."

"Too old? Why am I too old?" Amy asked.

"From birth are Jedi instructed," the creature siad. "Yes, before blinded they are by this crude matter."

"Uh, I'm noot blaind," Amy said. "I can see things other people can't. Aye thing I'm ready to..."

"Ready are you?" interjected the creature. "My old council will I keep on who is ready."

"Master Yoda, listen," River interjected. "I will personally take care of her training, but we will need the experience of a fully trained Jedi Master in this matter. Will you help us?"

"Hmm," grumbled the little creature. "Disapprove of this I do. Yet, the vergence I feel in the Force. Needed are the Jedi, before the end." He sighed. "Train her you will."

* * *

**(AN: New chapter, lots of chances for you to review, so go ahead. Yes, I did borrow some lines from _The Two Towers_ film version for Amy and Rory's reaction to Dagobah. I don't own that either.)**


	17. Escape Velocity

**(AN: Just in case you were wondering, when Yoda said that River Song was "of the Timelords", that did not mean that she _was_ a Timelord. She obviously shares many of the traits of a Timelord [a la regeneration, to say the least], and so it is quite accurate to say that she is "of the Timelords", meaning that she is _like_ a Timelord.)  
**

**(But here we go, back to 10 and Rose. Yes, I'm bowing to the wishes of reviewers [see? I just might, so don't be afraid to review], and though I mention a PT character, that doesn't mean I'm showing favoritism to the prequel trilogy. I can make references to the prequel trilogy just as I have with the Expanded Universe.)  
**

* * *

**Escape Velocity**

"Rogue Leader to _Millennium Falcon_," Luke's voice called over the comm on the _Falcon_'s dashboard. "Han, ol' buddy, do you read me?"

"Loud and clear, kid, what's up?" asked Captain Solo.

"The last transport just took off, but they said Leia wasn't on it!"

"It's alright, Luke, I'm on the _Falcon_," she replied.

"We're all here," Lieutenant Tyler added. "The Doctor's with me as well."

"What about Ben?" Luke asked. "Last time I saw, he was helping the evacuation, but he wasn't on the last transport. Is he with you?"

"Luke, are you there?" the Doctor said, leaning over to speak into the speaker. "Listen, something happened and Darth Vader appeared in the hangar before we left. Obi-wan was with us, he stayed behind to give us time and..."

"No!" Luke shouted so loudly, the radio feedback made them all wince.

"Listen, Luke, I'm sorry, I am so very sorry," the Doctor continued. "There wasn't anything we could do."

"I have to go," Luke said sorrowfully. "I'll meet you at the rendezvous point, I'll just be a little bit longer."

"Hey, kid, are you alright?" Han asked, but Luke did not answer.

Suddenly, the ship shook and Chewbacca, sitting in the chair on Captain Solo's right, growled something.

"I saw 'em, I saw 'em!" Han replied.

"Saw what?" Leia asked.

"Stardestroyers, two of 'em coming right at us," Han replied.

"Sir," C-3PO said as he entered the cockpit. "Might I suggest..."

"Shut him up or shut him down!" ordered Solo. "Chewie, check the deflector shield." The Wookie growled his response. "Great, well, we can still out-maneuver 'em!"

Han threw a level, and suddenly, the stars whirled as the _Millennium Falcon_ went into a spiraling nose dive. After all, this was space and flight was not confined to simple omnidirectional travel. The Doctor, meanwhile, knew what was going on above them. The Stardestroyer that had been pursuing them and one of the two that was coming on from the front were now very close to colliding.

"Oh, that is brilliant, Captain Solo," the Doctor applauded. "That is brilliant!"

"I don't need your approval, Doctor," Solo replied. "If it works, it works. Alright, Chewie, prepare to make the jump to lightspeed."

"But sir!" exclaimed C-3PO, still at the door of the cockpit.

"You better do it soon!" Rose exclaimed. "They're getting closer."

"Oh yeah?" Han replied, a confident smirk on his face. "Watch this." He gripped the thrust lever, the hyperdrive engines roared, sputtered, and then ceased. Outside the viewport, the stars remained still.

"Watch what?" Leia asked sarcastically.

"I think we're in trouble," Han Solo mused aloud.

"If I may say so, sir," C-3PO commented. "I noticed earlier that the hyperdrive motivator is damaged. It's impossible to go to lightspeed!"

"We're in trouble!" Han shouted, as he immediately jumped out of his seat and double-timed it down the ship, for Engineering. The Doctor drew out his sonic screwdriver and ran after him, with the large Wookie following on behind.

* * *

The floor section of the Engineering bay was open, and Han Solo was busy crawling around inside the engine, shouting out orders to Chewbacca. The Doctor, meanwhile, was scanning an open panel with his sonic screwdriver. He groaned in frustration, tore open another panel and began scanning it as well.

"Anything?" Captain Solo shouted.

"Nothing," the Doctor replied. "But I can't make sense out of this. I thought I knew YT-1300s, but you've changed the whole configuration. It'd take me years just to figure out how much you've modified."

"That's not important right now, Doc!" Solo shouted. "We're kind of being pursued. We'll just have to make a quick repair on the fly. Chewie, bring me the hydro-spanner!"

The Wookie placed a tool-box next to the Engineering pit where Han was working, and he removed the hydro-spanner from the box. Suddenly, the ship shook as it was struck by blaster fire, sending the box crashing onto Han's head. Just as he emerged, berating Chewbacca, the ship shook again, only this time there was a heavy grinding sound.

"That wasn't a laser blast, something hit us!" Han stated.

"Han, get up here!" Leia called back to them.

Captain Solo, the Doctor and Chewbacca ran back to the cockpit where they saw the new danger, floating ahead of them in a million or so pieces of lethal cold, iron rocks.

"Asteroids," the Princess announced.

"Oh, no," Han commented, though not exactly sounding concerned. Regardless, he took the helm. "Chewie, set 2-7-1."

"What are you doing?" Leia asked in surprise. "You're not actually thinking about going _in__to_ an asteroid field?"

"They'd be crazy to follow us, wouldn't they?" Han retorted.

"Doctor?" Rose turned to the Doctor. "What's wrong? They sound like it's horrible."

"You've been here three years, you don't know it's bad to fly through an asteroid field?"

"Well, I haven't been through that many," Rose replied.

"It's dangerous because the asteroids are adrift in deep space," the Doctor began. "Each of them are floating undeterred by any gravitational forces, and when they collide, they scatter pieces all throughout this area. Deflector shields can't keep the little ones out, they reek havoc on a ship's hull."

"He's right, Han!" Princess Leia said to the captain. "You don't have to do this to impress me."

"Sir," interrupted C-3PO frantically. "The possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately..."

"Three thousand seven hundred and twenty to one!" C-3PO and the Doctor said as one.

"Never tell me the odds!" Han Solo replied recklessly, as he turned the _Falcon_ into the field of space rocks.

* * *

Hours later passed and the _Millennium Falcon_ had successfully evaded capture. The TIE fighters that followed them were unlucky to hit the asteroids and were destroyed almost immediately upon contact. Captain Solo, however, flew the _Falcon_ into one of the larger asteroids, docking it in the bottom of a long tunnel. Once the ship was down, they had a few moments of peace. One by one, they went off to attempting to repair the _Falcon_'s hyperdrive, with every system except life support and emergency power systems shut down. Since she had very little technical skill, she had worked in a department store on Earth and knew basic battle tactics and how to shoot properly in the Rebellion, Rose followed the Doctor about, offering to help him however he needed.

"So, what's wrong with the ship?" Rose asked.

"I'm not sure," the Doctor began. "So many adjustments, only someone with intimate knowledge of this ship could possibly know what's wrong."

"What's up with Han and Leia?" Rose inquired. "I mean, I've been about them longer than you have, and, well, I think he fancies her."

"Yeah, of course he does," the Doctor replied matter-of-factly.

"Is that supposed to happen?"

"It's absolutely important," he answered. "Their children hold the fate of this galaxy's future in their hands."

"Children?" Rose asked.

"Three of 'em, to be exact," the Doctor continued. "Twins, Jacen and Jaina, and little Anakin, named after his grandfather. But I'm getting ahead of things, this power bypass is all gone to h..oh, bugger!"

The Doctor was scanning the panel in the wall, and, not watching where he was going, tripped on a smaller crate. Rose helped him up and saw that something had fallen out of his pocket. She reached down and picked it up: a small cylindrical thing, akin to the sonic screwdriver. She pressed a button on its side and a meter-long crimson blade sprung to life. Rose almost cried out upon seeing the sudden blade.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed. "Is that what I think it is?"

"It's a lightsaber," the Doctor replied.

"But...it's red!" she stated. "D...How did you get this?"

"A friend of mine gave it to me," the Doctor replied, taking it from Rose. "Told me to give it to Rory Williams. Trouble is, I don't even know who that is. I've never met him before, and I don't even know why he'd need a lightsaber." The Doctor shut it off and returned it into the pocket of his blue suit.

"Nice suit, by the way," Rose commented.

"Thank you," the Doctor replied. "Got it from the TARDIS' wardrobe. I like this now: blue suit, long trench coat, red Vans, even..." He reached into a pocket and placed on his nose a pair of thick-rimmed glasses. "Uh? Like these? Of course, I can't wear 'em out here, you know. There haven't been glasses in this galaxy for almost a hundred thousand years, not since corrective eye surgery and cybernetics overtook the need for specs."

"Cybernetics?" Rose asked. "Like the Daleks?"

"Not exactly," the Doctor replied. "Mostly, robotics have been carefully monitored. Even the Empire and the Trade Federation never had trouble with their droids. In the past three years, only two cybernetic organisms similar to the Daleks have been documented: General Grievous and Darth Vader."

"General who?"

"Grievous," the Doctor added. "An alien kept alive in a cybernetic body. Very Dalek-like, actually, all hate, murder and conquest. He was the last real threat during the Clone Wars, before the Republic turned on the Jedi. As for Vader..."

"What?"

But the Doctor did not answer. Instead, he continued about the panel, trying to discover the problem. During the moments of awkward silence, the Doctor tried to change the conversation.

"Say, Rose, what happened after we parted?" he asked.

"I went with the others to Yavin IV," she said. "There was a Rebel base there, and the Death Star was coming after us, gonna blow us into nothing, just like Alderaan. I stole onto a Y-wing, trying to land inside the Death Star and rescue you. Too late, I was too inexperienced to fly that thing properly, especially in a battle. The droid was helpful, though."

"Droid? What droid?"

"An astro-mech called R3-B23." Rose replied. "He was destroyed during a skirmish on Sullust."

"I'm sorry." the Doctor mused.

"It's alright," she continued. "I didn't really fly much afterward, usually just hopped aboard a Rebel transport ship. I..." Then she came to a halt. "Wait, Doctor! His number, B23. 'W' is the twenty-third letter of the alphabet."

"Thirtieth in the Lepontii language," he stated randomly. "But why's that important?"

"B-W, remember?" Rose commented. "It's Bad Wolf all over again. This can't be a coincidence, it must mean _something_."

"I don't know," mused the Doctor. "Anyway, go on."

"Oh, well, everyone was excited about the destruction of the Death Star," Rose began. "It seems most of 'em thought the Empire was really weak. You know, that the Emperor was just this weak old man being controlled by blokes like Tarkin and all the others who were on the Death Star. Most people in the Rebellion thought the Empire'd collapse once it was gone, and they'd lead a grand riot in the streets of Coruscant. Actually happened, you know: everyone died. Then the Imperial fleet blockaded Yavin, and we had to evacuate: and we've been on the run ever since."

There was a moment of silence between the two, held in honor of those who had died in the last three years.

* * *

Several hours passed and only Han Solo and Chewbacca were still assessing the _Falcon_, with C-3PO waddling about, trying to be helpful and yet not really wanted. Rose and the Doctor had sparred a bit with their lightsabers, with Rose using Rory's lightsaber, but that didn't last very long. Rose was better with a blaster than a sword, than any sword much less a lightsaber, and the Doctor went easily on her because of how dangerous it was to 'play' with a lightsaber. One over-wide cut and Rose would be an amputee.

"I can't understand how you can wield that so skillfully," Rose laughed, after a rather hilarious attempt at sword-play.

"It takes practice and loads of concentration," the Doctor said. "And even more with a lightsaber, as it can hack off a limb as easy as anything. Still..."

Just then, there was a scream heard from the cockpit and Leia came running over to where they stood.

"There's something out there!" she exclaimed. "Outside in the cave."

A clanging sound was suddenly heard, coming from as though it were outside the ship.

"There it is!" cried C-3PO. "Listen, listen!"

"I'm going out there!" Han said, opening a wall panel and removing one of the oxygen masks.

"What, are you crazy?" asked Leia.

"I just got this bucket of bolts back together," he replied. "I'm not gonna let some thing tear it apart!"

"Oh, then I'm going with you!" Leia added frustratedly.

"Might as well, eh?" the Doctor asked, turning to Rose as Chewbacca joined Han and Leia on their way toward the _Falcon_'s loading ramp.

"Yeah, why not?" she returned.

He tossed her an oxygen mask, then joined Han, Leia and Chewie as they walked down the loading ramp. The ground beneath the loading ramp, however, gave way to their feet slightly. The clear mouthpieces of their oxygen masks started fogging up as well. While Han and Leia searched the front of the ship, the Doctor and Rose followed Chewbacca towards the back. Rose was checking the sides of the ship, just as they were intending to do, while the Doctor, meanwhile, was pointing the sonic screwdriver at everything but the ship.

"Doctor," she asked. "Aren't we supposed to be checking the ship?"

"Oh, it's nothing," dismissed the Doctor. "Mynocks, creepy little buggers. They actually fly through the low gravity zones in the large asteroids and feed off energy from passing ships. There's only one problem."

"What's that?"

"We're not inside an asteroid," the Doctor replied.

Just then, there was the sound of blaster fire and Chewbacca ran around the other side of the ship to see what it was. Then there were loud squawks as several Mynocks started flapping about the ship. The Doctor turned to the front, where Leia was screaming as she was being "attacked" by the Mynocks, and suddenly everything shook. The Mynocks suddenly seemed to quiet down.

"Wait a minute," Han mused, aiming his blaster pistol at the ground.

"No! Don't shoot!" the Doctor shouted.

Too late. Solo fired and suddenly there was the tremor again. It seemed almost impossible to keep one's footing. One by one, Han and Leia swayed and tumbled towards the loading ramp, with Chewbacca coming up after them.

"Rose, come on!" the Doctor shouted, then ran off after them before they were left behind.

Suddenly, the Doctor caught his foot on one of the Mynocks that had been lying on the ground. It would have been an easily recoverable tumble, but the beast was still alive and took flight upon feeling the red Vans upon its body. The Doctor almost fell completely over, and only Rose's hand helped keep him on his feet.

"Thanks, Rose," he breathed.

"Don't mention it," she replied.

They reached the loading ramp in time, just as it was being raised and the atmosphere was being restored to the interior of the _Falcon_.

"Strap yourselves in, we're in taking off!" Han ordered, once his mask was off.

"The Empire is still out there," Leia protested. "I don't think..."

"No time to discuss this in committee!" Han retorted, running up to the bridge just as another tremor sent the _Falcon_ swirling.

While Leia ran after him, shouting her retort to what he had said, Rose and the Doctor made their way after them when another tremor sent the Doctor up against the wall and Rose leaning on him. They both laughed for a moment, then slowly stood back on their feet as the _Falcon_'s artificial gravity stabilizers brought them out of the reach of the shaking 'cave.'

"Hold on," the Doctor suddenly spoke up, feeling the insides of his jacket. "Oh no!"

"What?" Rose asked. "What is it?"

"My sonic screwdriver," he replied, a panicked look on his face. "I haven't got it!"

* * *

"The cave is collapsing!" Leia exclaimed.

"This isn't a cave," Han replied.

Rose and the Doctor now made their way back onto the bridge, where they saw the mammoth jaws of some giant creature start to close. Han was silent and expressionless as he made the narrow shot between the giant teeth, while Chewbacca was growling something in his native language, Leia seemed unnerved and C-3PO was bewailing their impending doom: the Doctor, meanwhile, had a smile on his face.

"Blimey!" he exclaimed. "I haven't seen one of these since I first left Gallifrey! I thought they were extinct!"

"What is it?" Rose asked.

"An Exogorth," the Doctor began. "Commonly called space-slugs. Massive things, really, silicon-based, so it can survive the vacuum of space. They eat the metal in those asteroids, as well as..."

"The occasional freighter?" Solo asked sardonically.

"Yeah," the Doctor replied. "But still, just seeing one of those things alive again is fantastic! I mean, they can last for centuries inside those asteroids. They can even push themselves out of one, and float through space to reach another. It's amazing!"

"Maybe it would be amazing if it hadn't tried to eat us!" Princess Leia retorted.

"I think I agree with her," Rose added.

"Oh, thank goodness we're coming out of the asteroid field!" exclaimed C-3PO, as the asteroids in their view-port began to grow fewer and fainter. They were indeed making their way out of the field. Suddenly, the ship shivered, lights blinked, and an alarm on the ship's console started beeping.

"Sir, we've just lost the rear deflector shield!" exclaimed C-3PO. "One more direct hit on the back quadrant and we're done for!"

"What's going on?" Rose asked.

"The Empire," the Doctor replied. "They sat outside the asteroid field and waited for us."

"Alright, Chewie, ready for lightspeed," Han ordered. Then began the countdown. "One...two...three!"

He pulled the lever down, but the stars remained steady. Chewbacca roared, Leia rolled her eyes and the Doctor fiddled about in his jacket before realizing that he had lost his sonic screwdriver.

"It's not fair," Han said, double-checking the controls. "Transfer circuits aren't working, it's not my fault."

"No lightspeed?" Leia asked sarcastically.

"It's not my fault!" Han replied.

Just then, the flashes of emerald energy coursing past the view-screen meant that they were still in danger. At that moment, Han did the most daring thing either Rose or the Doctor had ever seen him do.

"Turn her around," he ordered Chewbacca, who growled in protest. "I said turn her around! I'm gonna put all power on the front shields."

"You're gonna _attack_ them?" Leia exclaimed incredulously.

"Sir!" interjected C-3PO. "The odds of surviving a direct assault on a Stardestroyer..."

"Shut up!" shouted Leia.

Chewbacca growled his addition, then the view-screen changed as the huge form of the wedge-shaped Stardestroyer devoured the space before them. It started growing bigger and bigger, its turbo-laser battlements bristling across its uneven surface, bolts of emerald energy lancing out towards them.

"Doctor," Rose whispered. "What are those odds?"

"Five thousand three hundred and eighty-six to one," he added. "Give or take a few."

"Just like usual, then." Rose said, swallowing hard as the Stardestroyer became all that there was in the view-port of the _Millennium Falcon_.

* * *

**(AN: A good thing about having ten chapters for each 'episode' is that this story gets a good amount of chapters. The bad thing is that I have to cram _Empire_ into ten chapters, and I've got two sub-plots and as you can see, we're getting damn close to the end. So I shoved the whole asteroid field adventure into this chapter and hoped it worked.)**

**(You can see the little bits I added in there, like the Doctor losing his sonic screwdriver [in case you were wondering, that is the one River used to summon the TARDIS in chapter 11], and Rory's lightsaber. He had a lightsaber in _Kelvington_'s parody, so I thought, why not? The rest, however, I will reveal in time.)  
**


	18. City in the Clouds

**(AN: And now, back to River and the Ponds. And, like in chapter seven, there's a reference to _Skyrim_. See if you can spot it.)  
**

* * *

**City in the Clouds**

"Damn!" Amy cried out as the training remote delivered a well-aimed shot to her knee.

She was in a clearing on the swamp planet of Dagobah, where River was training her with a remote which the old creature, whose name was Yoda, had let them use. The little green thing had been rather reclusive after their arrival, saying that his duty as a watcher was not yet over, even if these newcomers were to train in the ways of the Jedi. River and Rory were seated on a log aside from the clearing, where Amy was engaged with the droid. Frustrated, she clicked the weapon off, the blue blade dispersing into the gloom.

"Aye can't do it," she bewailed. "Aim soore and I doin' seem ta be gettin' any better."

"Try again, Mum," River replied. "You're focusing too much on the remote."

"Well, isnae that what aim supposed ta do?"

"Here, hun, let me give it a go," Rory offered, rising from the log.

"Ye think ye can do this?" she replied. "If aye can't, aye doubt you can."

"Why not?" he returned. "I was a centurion once, and I'm a nurse. If I can use a scalpel, I can sure as hell beat off that little round...bugger." He gave the remote a scathing look.

"Suit yerself," Amy replied, walking over to the log and sitting herself down next to her mother. Once she sat down, she threw the lightsaber to Rory, who caught it with his left hand, then gripped it with both hands. The blue blade sprang to life with a crackling hiss.

"Why did you have to pick blue, Amy?" Rory asked, as he watched the remote, lining its tiny gun-port with the slender blade of blue energy.

"I'm the only one here who knows how to build a proper lightsaber," River said. "Well, me and old Yoda. The thing is, according to their beliefs, an apprentice doesn't reach the fulfillment of his or her training until they can properly build a lightsaber. They don't come cheap, you know, not even in the hey-days of the Republic."

"Tell us aboot the Republic," Amy queried, watching as Rory's focus led him to skillfully deflect a blast from the remote.

"Peace, justice, freedom," River began. "That's how the story begins, several thousand years ago. Then, like every democracy, it goes south and, before you know it, the Republic's dead. Long live the Emperor!" Her last words were spoken sarcastically.

"But is the Empire that bad?"

"Well, apart from the xenophobic racism, collectivization of commerce, rule through force and blowing up planets just for the fun of it," River replied with snark. "What do you think, Mum?"

"Soounds pretty bad," Amy said.

Suddenly, Rory cursed aloud, hobbling back to the log and favoring his knee.

"That thing is fast," he said. "I doubt even the most skilled cricket player could keep up with it."

"See? I told ye!"

"You're relying too much on yourself, that's all."

"But isn't that good?"

"Not when it comes to the Force," River shook her head. "Here, let me show you." River rose from the log and sauntered over to the hovering remote. She removed from her belt a lightsaber of her own, whose blade cracked to life with a whine and a hiss, revealing a green blade of energy.

The remote fired and, with her eyes still on Rory and Amy, River moved the blade to just the right angle to deflect the bolt harmlessly into the leaves on the ground. The little thing began flying rapidly about River's head, firing bolts as thick as hail. With the precision and grace of a ballerina, River moved quickly about, deflecting every blow as they came, until the droid ceased its fire.

"Blamey!" Amy exclaimed. "That was impressive. How did yo..."

"It has nothing to do with visual concentration," River explained. "But by simply opening yourself up to the Force and allowing it to flow through you."

"Sounds like pseudo-spiritual bollocks to me," Rory replied.

"Did you see how I bested the remote?" River gestured back to the clearing as she walked towards them.

"Could be anything," Rory argued. "I mean, you're a fair fighter, you've had training as an assassin. It could be any one of those..."

"Weet! Listen!" Amy interjected. "D'you hear that?"

They all halted, ears perked for whatever it was that Amy had heard. But the only sounds that met their ears were the warbling of the swamp creatures, and the occasional splash of those in the pools.

"I don't hear anything out of the ordinary," River replied.

"No, listen again!" Amy insisted.

Suddenly they heard it, soft at first but growing steadily louder. It sounded like a jet engine from the airplanes back on Earth, but it was growing louder and nearer with every minute. Six eyes looked up at the murky, mist-ridden sky, though they knew they would not see much of anything. Then it happened! Faster than they could have guessed, they saw something large and metallic rush through the trees in the distance, leaving an awful roar of the whining turbines buzzing in their ears, and then a sudden splash.

"What was that?" both Rory and Amy asked simultaneously.

River gripped her lightsaber and slowly walked out of the clearing, toward the general direction where the crash had been seen. Behind her followed Amy and Rory, the one taking the blue lightsaber from Rory's hands and gripping it in her own. Out they walked, stepping precariously over the low-lying branches and mangrove-like tree-roots that littered their path. Even worse was the ground itself, which was squirming with life so much that some creature was squeaking, squawking or nipping at their boots with every step they made. As if that were not enough, the ground was muddy and unsteady, sloshing noisily as they made their way.

"This is madness," Rory said. "Whoever is there must have heard us by now."

"We still have some ways to go," River said. "It must be about half a click that way." She pointed ahead and to the left.

"Still, we won't exactly 'ave th' element of surpraise." Amy stated.

"We just might, Mum," River replied. "Remember, we're in a swamp."

On they went, passing through the trees with almost no sound in any direction. Suddenly, they heard a voice cry out above the noises of the swamp. It was a man's voice, or a young man's voice, for it sounded young and a bit high-pitched. They remained still for once, waiting to hear what had happened, until they heard, above the sound of the swamp, the warbling of something electronic and the voice of the young man fell down a bit. This went on for a moment, and then there was a growl and the voice rose again. Then suddenly there was a loud electronic whine.

With a nod from River, they ran through the marshes as fast as they could, until the whistling suddenly ended. Then they halted once more, and walked slowly forward, eager to see what it was who had come this way. At last they arrived in a clearing filled with a great pool of murky water, in which had crashed a vessel of similar shape to an aircraft, but it was much different. Nearby, they saw a young man with dirty blond hair, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, and a thing the size of a small tin trashcan with stubby mechanical legs on its sides.

"Oi!" Amy shouted.

In one sudden movement, the young man turned towards them and, out of reflex more than malicious intent, a blast from the pistol in his hand was sent their way. But River was too quick, drawing out her lightsaber in one move and in the same, deflecting the crimson bolt into the muddy water.

"Who's there?" the young man asked.

"We're friends, here," River replied. "Would you put the blaster down?"

"You have a lightsaber!" exclaimed the young man. "Are you a Jedi?"

"Yes," River nodded.

"Are you Yoda?"

River laughed clear and merrily. "Not in the least." she replied. "My name is River Song. These two are Amy Pond and Rory Williams." She nodded back to her parents. "And you are?"

"Luke Skywalker," he replied, still keeping his blaster on them. "Where are you from, River Song? Your accent sounds like Coruscanti, are you from an Imperial world?"

"No," River replied, shaking her head.

For a moment, Luke's eyes opened in realization. "Are you from London?"

"Actually, I'm from nowhere at all," River replied. "But my Mother is from Scotland and my Father is from Gloucestershire." She paused. "But I take it you've heard about London before?"

"Yes," Luke nodded his head.

"The Doctor!" Amy and Rory said as one.

"You know the Doctor?" exclaimed Luke.

"We're his companions," Amy said.

"And I'm his wife." River replied.

"He never mentioned you," Luke said. "Do you know Lieutenant Rose Tyler?"

"Roose Tyler?" Amy asked. "Oos she?"

"Rose," River rolled her eyes. "Wait, she's a lieutenant now?"

"Yeah," Luke replied. "For three years." The nuzzle of his blaster lowered, but did not leave their direction.

"Well, if you know the Doctor," he continued. "I think I'll be safe in trusting you. Now, if you don't mind, R2 and I have to go."

"Where are you going?" Rory asked.

"We're looking for Yoda."

The young man turned away to the trashcan robot, whom he had called R2, and while Amy prepared to tell him where they had seen Yoda, she suddenly heard the old creature's voice, whispering in her head.

_Of my presence say nothing,_ it said. _This one a long time have I watched. Find him I will, your help I need not._

Amy walked back, not really understanding what the old creature meant. But she looked at River, who shook her head. From what she guessed, Yoda had spoken to her as well, and so they kept their silence. But with that restrained, she turned her thoughts instead to the Doctor. Who was this Rose Tyler Luke had spoken of in relation to the Doctor?

* * *

"Oh, that is brilliant!" lauded the Doctor.

Just outside the view-port of the _Millennium Falcon_ was the Imperial Fleet. Han Solo's brash "attack" on the ISS _Avenger_ had led not to sudden death, but to a rather outrageous attempt at hiding. The _Falcon_ was now latched onto the rear tower section of the Stardestroyer, just outside of sensor range. Here they were, hiding in plain sight with everyone on the bridge, watching Han Solo's bravado played out.

"I mean, that _is_ brilliant, _really_ brilliant!" continued the Doctor. "Trick the Empire by hiding in plain sight, just outside of sensor range. That should give 'em the slip. Brilliant!"

"Brilliant? Brilliant?!" exclaimed C-3PO incredulously. "Oh! Captain Solo, this time you have gone _too_ far!" Chewbacca growled in protest. "No, I will _not_ be quiet, Chewbacca, why doesn't anyone listen to me?"

"Fleet's beginning to break up," Han said casually. "Chewie, go back and stand by for the manual release for the landing claw." The large Wookie left the cockpit to do as he was instructed.

"I really don't see how that's going to help," C-3PO rambled on. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Rose noted that Han gave Leia a look, to which she reached up to the golden droid's neck. "Surrender is a perfectly acceptable alternative in extreme circumstances. The Empire may be gracious enough to..." But the droid could not continue, for Leia had pressed the off-switch and now the droid hung motionless in the seat.

"Thank you!" Han exclaimed.

"Yeah," Rose said. "Starting to get on my nerves."

"Now," Leia asked, turning to Han. "What do you have in mind for your next move?"

"Well, if they follow standard Imperial procedure," Han began. "They'll dump their garbage before they go to lightspeed, and we just float away..."

"With the rest of the garbage," Leia finished. "And then what?"

"Then we'll need to find a safe port," Han said, turning on a view-screen on his console. Rose and the Doctor peered over behind his back to look at the screen. A blue galactic map appeared, which began narrowing in on the coordinates of the _Millennium Falcon_. As the screen was getting narrower and narrower onto their location, they noticed that they were in a very uninhabited part of space.

"Any ideas?" Han asked.

"Where are we?" Leia asked.

"Anoat System," replied Han.

"Anoat System, there's not much there." mused Leia out-loud.

"Oh, no," the Doctor muttered.

"What, what is it?" Rose whispered.

"They told me this would happen," the Doctor said.

"What? What would happen?"

"Lando!" Han said aloud.

"Lando? Who's Lando?" Rose asked.

"Lando Calrissian," Han exclaimed. "He's a...card-player, gambler, scoundrel-type." He looked over at Leia. "You'd like him."

"Thanks," Leia said, rolling her eyes.

"Bespin," Han said, gesturing to the gas giant on the viewer. "It's pretty far, but I think we can make it."

"A mining colony?" Leia asked.

"Yeah, a tibanna gas mine," Han replied. "Lando conned somebody out of it. We go back a long way, Lando and me."

"Can you trust him?"

"No," Han said with a smirk. "But he's got no love for the Empire, I'll give you that."

While they were talking, the Doctor made his way from the bridge, a solemn expression on his face. Rose followed him over to the main hold, where he sat down at the sofa by the holographic dejarik game board.

"Doctor?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"I know what's going to happen," the Doctor replied. "I know how the timeline in this universe is supposed to go, but I also know that the timeline has been disrupted. If we go there, it will happen."

"What will happen?"

"Someone told me that terrible things would happen because of what happened to the timeline," the Doctor said, turning to Rose. His big, brown eyes were full of sorrow. "They told me that if we went to Bespin, with the timeline the way it is, we won't be returning."

* * *

It had been hilarious when Yoda at last found Luke. River, Amy and Rory watched from behind a curtain of vines as the old creature met Luke as a crazy old creature, curious and a bit mischievous. At first, they were surprised that Yoda chose to make himself appear as such. They watched as Yoda led Luke to his hut, a round thing that sat in the roots of a giant tree. Unfortunately, it began to rain half-way to the hut. But River was too clever to be out-done by a simple rainstorm. Leading her parents back to the TARDIS, she brought it to a rest just outside the hut, with its door open, and they all sat just at the door of the TARDIS, trying to listen to what was going on inside the hut.

"I cannae hear a thing," Amy said. "This rain's too lowed."

River pointed the sonic screwdriver at the hut, then plugged it into the console of the TARDIS. A light flashed on, and she pressed a button and an image appeared on the screen.

"Come here, then," River said, gesturing to the screen. "We can watch it from here."

The Ponds sat on either side of their daughter on the three seats at the TARDIS' console, and watched as Yoda and the young Luke were busy inside the little creature's hut.

"Why wish you become Jedi, hmm?" queried the old creature.

"Well, mostly because of my father, I guess," Luke replied.

"Ah, father," exclaimed the green thing. "Powerful Jedi was he. He-he-he-he, hmm! Powerful Jedi."

"Oh, come on," Luke dismissed. "How could you know my father, you don't even know who I am?" Then in frustration, he threw the gourd in his hand down on the floor. "Oh, I don't even know what I'm doing here! We're wasting our time!"

The old creature sighed. "I cannot teach him," he said, speaking not to Luke. "The boy has no patience."

Silence followed for a moment, after which Amy suddenly exclaimed.

"D'you hear that?" she asked. "An oold man's voice said that he'd learn patience."

"I didn't hear anything," Rory dismissed.

"I did," River added.

"Much anger in him," the creature said, turning to Luke. "Like his father." Silence once again. "No, he is not ready."

"Come oin, Rory," Amy dismissed. "I heard that, as clear as a bail."

"Hun, there's nothing," Rory shook his head. "No voice."

"Shh!" River shushed, directing them back to the screen."

"For eight hundred years have I trained Jedi," Yoda continued. "My own council will I keep on who is to be trained. A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, hmm? The most serious mind." He looked off, gesturing to Luke. "This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away, to the future, to the horizon." He turned then to Luke, poking him with his staff. "Never his mind on where he was, hmm? What he was doing!" He walked away. "Heh, adventure. Heh, excitement, ha! A Jedi craves not these things."

"But I followed my feelings," Luke replied.

"You are reckless," Yoda added.

"Oh, come on!" shouted Amy. "How can ye not hear that voice? It's..."

"You don't need to shout, Mum," River said. "I can hear it too."

"But why can't Rory hear it?"

"The other voice belongs to one Luke calls Ben," River said. "I've been watching while you two were arguing. Apparently, he's a Jedi as well, taught by Yoda. But he's dead. I can only hear his voice, but it comes from a great distance. He is one with the Force."

"But what does tha' mean?" Amy asked.

"It's like the Doctor said," River turned to her mother. "You have nascent Force-sensitivity, that's why you can hear him and Rory can't."

"Will he finish what he begins?" Yoda asked.

"I won't fail you," Luke told the little thing on the screen. "I'm not afraid."

"Oh?" queried the old Jedi Master. "You will be. You will be."

At this, River shut off the feed. Amy seemed rather shocked, or in the least, wary of what might happen. Already she was having misgivings about this dark, damp swamp-planet, and she could sense - with her "sixth sense", as she sometimes called it - that something was wrong with this planet, besides the countless critters crawling through the mud.

* * *

Weeks had passed since Luke's arrival on Dagobah, and apparently, nothing bad had happened. Amy's work with the lightsaber was growing, after Yoda told River to blindfold her before sending her against the remote. Once this was done, the three of them followed Yoda and Luke about on his lessons, listening to every word Yoda said.

Today, there was a lull in the training after Yoda taught Luke how to use the Force to move quickly through the forest. Very soon the others lost track of them, and had to make their way slowly. When they arrived at last where Luke and Yoda had stopped, they found themselves at what looked like a cavern created by the large roots of a giant tree. As the Ponds made their way to the place, Amy looked at the entrance with a strange kind of foreboding.

"What's in there?" Amy asked.

"I don't know," River shook her head. "I've never been in there before."

In silence they waited while Luke went into the cave alone, leaving Yoda to sit solitary with R2-D2, Luke's astromech droid, in the clearing nearby. At last, curiosity, more than anything else, drove Amy to walk up to Yoda and ask him about that cave.

"Yooda," she began. "Wha's that pleece?"

"A domain of evil it is," the old creature said. "Strong it is with the dark side of the Force."

"Way did ye send Luke intae it?" she asked.

"In all things the darkness lies," Yoda said. "But to conquer it, the greatest victory for a Jedi that is. Face his darkness, Luke must." The little creature looked up at Amy, its green eyes boring into her.

"As well you must."

Amy went forward, then heard once again what Yoda had told Luke. "Your weapons, you will not need them." She tossed Rory her lightsaber, then saw Luke appear, a serious look on his face as he walked back to the little green creature. Once he was gone, Amy walked on into the cave, pushing aside the vines that hung down from the roof. As she made her way through, suddenly she gave a start, for she thought she saw, in the vines, a stone face leering at her with fangs in its mouth.

Suddenly, the floor gave way and she was standing on the brink of a precipice. Out of the darkness there appeared Rory, who had his hand stretched out to her.

"Come on!" he shouted. "Take my hand and we'll go together!"

"Go? Wheere?"

"Down," he replied. "It's the only way."

"Are ye crazy?" she shouted, but then turned and saw that she was suddenly surrounded. The entrance to the cave was cut off by an army of stone figures, wings folded back and clawed hands reaching out to her. Her heart froze. She knew that she could not keep her eyes open long enough to keep them all at bay, and even if she blinked one eye at a time, they would move in her blindside before she had a chance to open her eyes again.

"Amy, we have to jump!" Rory insisted.

She turned her head to him, then suddenly remembered her predicament. She cried out in fear as turned back to the stone figures. Now they were closer, the groping fingers merely a hair's breadth away from her nose. Jumping was the only option.

* * *

"Concentrate," Yoda instructed. "Feel the Force flow. Yes!"

Several days passed since the incident in the cave. Yoda said nothing about Amy's experience in the cave, and Amy did not feel comfortable about sharing it with any of them, even her beloved Rory. Now River and Rory were seated on a log while Amy sat upon the floor of leaves, moving stones with the Force. Nearby, Luke was standing on his hands, doing the same with Yoda. Amy kept her eyes closed, intent on those things about her. However, while she was thus enveloped, she suddenly heard a loud shout and a cry from R2.

"Control, control, you must learn control!" insisted Yoda. Amy turned about and saw Luke lying on the ground.

"I saw..." he began breathlessly. "I saw a city in the clouds."

"Friends you have there?" Yoda asked.

"Yes," Luke replied. "Not just me, but them as well. They..." His words suddenly failed him as he saw that eight pairs of eyes were now looking intently at him.

"They were in pain." he said at last.

"Was the Doctor there?" River asked. Luke nodded silently.

"It is the future you see," Yoda explained.

"Future?" interjected Amy. "Weet, you mean the Doctor's in danger?"

"That's what I saw," Luke replied.

"What's gonnae happen to them, Yoda?" Amy asked. "Will thee day?"

"Difficult to see," replied Yoda. "Always in motion is the future."

"I've got to go to them!" Luke said, then began leaving the clearing when Yoda spoke again.

"Decide you must how to serve them best," he said, but his words seemed directed at all of them, not just Luke. "If you leave now, help them you could, but you would destroy all for which they have fought and suffered."

For the present, Luke seemed sated by Yoda's response. River, however, quietly shook her head, then turned and made her way through the forest, back to the TARDIS.

"Weet, Mels, where ye goin'?" Amy asked, as she and Rory followed on after her.

"I'm going to find the Doctor," she replied, her voice heavy with emotion.

"But Master Yoda said we can't..." Rory stated.

"To hell with Yoda!" River shouted, turning to both of them. "I..."

"What is it?" Amy asked.

"The day you went into the cave," River began. "I went in there as well. I saw the Doctor...dying again. I wasn't able to help him. I think something's happened to this timeline."

"How d'ye know?" Amy asked.

"I can feel it, Mum," she replied. "It's faint and fading, but the disturbance is there, even in the Force. The Doctor is in mortal danger, and we have to go to him."

"Fine," Amy relented. "But we're gooin' with ye."

* * *

**(AN: I cut away to our other heroes in the mid of the story because, well, time constraints. And I described what Han saw when he was looking for a safe port because, when I saw ESB long ago, I always wondered what he was looking at. Was it just some blue light that nobody else could see, like Spock's scanners on the Enterprise? Also, I modified some of the dialogue. The reasons being that, being a fan-fic, I don't have to copy word-for-word the movie's dialogue [which is good because I've forgotten much that I thought I knew by heart], and, specifically that scene with the _Falcon_ on the Stardestroyer, I thought Leia saying "the Lando system?" was just ridiculous, so I cut it out.)**

**(New update will come soon...hopefully. Don't forget to review, it will make the update come sooner.)  
**


	19. Checkmate

**(AN: I almost forgot that Amy had used a sword before. Obviously, that's going to come in handy later on, as you shall see. Also, about the last chapter. There are people [very few, it seems, compared to those who love ESB above all the rest of the original trilogy] who criticize the cave scene as being not needful and strange. Well, in my opinion, Luke seeing his own face beneath Vader's mask shows what will be revealed when Luke meets Vader. Therefore, methought that, for Amy, she would see a vision of the future incited by the Dark Side energies within the cave. Yes, I've seen "The Angels Take Manhattan", and that was what I was referencing.)  
**

**(Nice chapter this one, destined to be quite long and featuring a reference to classic Who. After all, as I'm sure some of us believe, "new" Who is just a continuation of _Doctor Who_ as a whole, and so it is all canon and I can reference classic Who if I so desire [:D]. Also, and the _Star Wars_ fanboys will hate me for this, the Boba Fett who appears in this is the 2004 Special Edition one, because I HATE the Robert Newton-esque, "argg, I be a stereotypical pirate" Boba Fett from the original movie.)  
**

* * *

**Checkmate**

"No, I don't have a landing permit," Han Solo exasperatedly told the radio tower controller over the comm-system. The _Falcon_ was now well within the atmosphere of Bespin and being escorted by two, orange twin-podded cloud cars.

"I'm tryin' to reach Lando Calrissian," Han continued. when one of the cloud cars sent a blast across the _Falcon'_s nose. "Whoa, wait a minute! Let me explain..."

"Someone's touchy!" Rose exclaimed.

"Well," the Doctor began. "A ship comes in to your system, requesting permission to speak with the head of this mining facility and has no credentials. Just following procedure, really."

"I thought you knew this person," Leia asked Han. To this, Chewbacca growled something.

"Well, that was a long time ago," Han replied. "I'm sure he's forgotten about it by now."

At last, the comm crackled to life and the radio controller's voice granted them permission to land.

"See?" Han assured those behind him. "Nothing to worry about, we go way back, Lando and me."

"Who's worried?" Leia asked, but Rose noticed that she scooted just a bit farther from the captain's chair in her own.

Outside the cockpit of the _Millennium Falcon_, the view was breathtaking. The sun was setting and the endless sky was all alight with 'fire.' The clouds around them were a brilliant shade of orange and red, even the mushroom-shaped city, hovering in the midst of the sky, was orange from the last rays of the sun glowing on its durasteel hull.

After a few moments of searching, Han found platform 327, which had been given them as their cleared landing zone. The _Falcon_ touched the landing pad with a gentle quiver, then Han released the loading ramp and one by one, they descended onto the platform. It was wide, wide enough to hold the _Falcon_ easily, with one walkway leading to a building whose door was closed.

"Oh, no one to meet us," C-3PO stated.

"I don't like this," Leia said.

"Well, what would you like?" chuckled Han.

"Well, they did let us land," 3PO commented.

"Look," Han assured them. "Everything's gonna be fine, trust me." Just then, the doors on the other side of the walkway opened and a small force of local police appeared, leading a dark-skinned man dressed in blue wearing a cloak. Before Han could walk up to greet them, the Doctor was already on his way up.

"Hello," he greeted, both hands in his pockets. When he saw the dark-skinned man nod at his guards, who raised their weapons, the Doctor lifted his hands up and showed them both to be empty. "I assure you, we come in peace."

"Just who are you?" the dark-skinned man asked.

"I'm the Doctor, you?"

"Lando Calrissian," he replied. "And what do you mean 'Doctor'? Doctor Who?"

"Oh, I love it when people say that!" the Doctor smiled.

"Now, Doctor," Lando continued. "Tell me how you came by that YT-1300 freighter?"

"Oh, we're with him," the Doctor said, gesturing to Han. The Corellian made his way up to the Doctor's side, and the Doctor noted that Calrissian's face grew hard.

"Why, you slimy, double-crossing, no-good swindler," Lando said to Han. "You got a lot of nerve coming here, after what you pulled." Han pointed at himself quizzically, then Lando approached, made as though he would attack Han, then the two of them embraced, breaking off into laughter.

When they parted, Lando dismissed his guards, then turned to Han and asked: "What are you doin' here?"

"Ah, repairs," Han said, gesturing to the _Falcon_. "I thought you could help out."

"What have you done to my ship?"

"_Your_ ship?" Han retorted. "Hey, you lost her to me fair and square."

"Don't remind me," dismissed Lando, turning to the tall Wookie who was now walking towards them along with the others. "And how are you doin', Chewbacca? Still hanging around with this loser?" The Wookie growled.

But when Lando saw Leia and Rose, his whole demeanor suddenly changed.

"Hello, what have we here?" he said to Leia smoothly. "Welcome, I'm Lando Calrissian, I'm the administrator of this facility. And who might you ladies be?"

"Lieutenant Rose Tyler," began the young blond.

"Leia," the Alderaan princess stated dryly.

"Welcome, Lieutenant," Lando said, playfully saluting Rose with a wink. "Leia..." He turned to the princess, kissing her hand, which caused Han to make a sound.

"Alright, alright, cut it out, you old smoothie," Han interjected.

One by one they walked towards the door, while C-3PO seemed interested in introducing himself to Calrissian. Once inside, Lando regaled Han with all that had happened since he took control of the administration of the Cloud City mining operation. Leia listened intently, while Chewbacca followed on behind, closely trailed by Rose and the Doctor.

"So, uh, Lando, is that his name?" Rose asked. "What do you know about him?"

"He's dishonest," the Doctor replied. "About a lot of things, then again, most of Han Solo's friends are. That makes it difficult to guess their true motives."

"What do you think he's doing?"

"Wait, do you hear that?" the Doctor suddenly halted.

"No, I don't," Rose dismissed.

"Exactly," the Doctor replied. "3PO's missing."

* * *

"Are you almost done in there?" the Doctor asked. It had been three days since their arrival and Lando had sent over a change of clothes for Rose and Leia. Rose was in the bathroom, or as she called it the 'water closet', changing into her new outfit.

"Just a minute!" she exclaimed.

"Why do you human females always take forever in the wardrobe?" the Doctor queried.

"What, do Time...ladies get dressed in a jiff?" Rose retorted cheekily.

The Doctor chuckled for a moment.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Susan took her time as well," he replied.

"Susan? Who's Susan?"

"A Time-lady, as you put it," the Doctor said. "She traveled with me when I first left Gallifrey. Brilliant woman, Susan. She was the closest thing I had to a real family."

"What happened to her?" Rose asked, walking out of the wardrobe.

"I lost her," the Doctor said., his voice growing grim. "Last I recall, she was on Earth in the 33rd century, but...I haven't been back there to see her. She probably joined the Time War outside of my knowledge and died."

"Oh, Doctor, I'm sorry," Rose replied.

"Oh, it's not your fault," the Doctor replied, jovial again. "Besides, it's not like she's gone, really."

"Yeah, whatever that means," Rose stated. "So, what do you think?"

The Doctor saw that Rose was in a pale blue, loose-sleeve shirt, with a white vest and tight pale blue pants.

"Nice, very nice," the Doctor said. "Say, do you know where the others are?"

"I think I heard Lando say something about taking them to dinner," Rose said. "I wasn't hungry or I would have invited you."

"No!" the Doctor rose to his feet.

"What? What is it? Did I do something wrong?"

"Rose, you should have kept them from going," insisted the Doctor. "Used anything you could have, but just kept them from..."

Suddenly, the door exploded and a squad of Stormtroopers billowed through the smoke and rubble, blasters aimed at Rose and the Doctor.

"Hands up!" they ordered. "Drop the screwdriver."

"Wait, how do you know about my sonic screw..."

"I said drop it!" shouted the Stormtrooper.

"Alright, alright!" the Doctor retorted. "But, I'll let you know, it's in my pocket, so I'll have to take it out." He looked over at Rose, and mouthed one word.

"Run."

In one move, the Doctor took out the sonic screwdriver, aimed it at the window and pressed the button. A hum of high-pitched sound was heard, and then the glass shattered as the sonic screwdriver detached it from the frame. The wind roared in like a storm.

"Rose, run!" shouted the Doctor.

"I'm not leaving without you!" she retorted.

"Rose, listen to me!" he replied. "You have to go! I can't hold them off forever, you _have _to go!"

Suddenly, blue rays were blasting around the room, as the Stormtroopers fought to keep their footing. Still, however, Rose would not move. At last, the Doctor pushed her out of the window, then turned to face the troops.

* * *

The fall had not been too terrible, and Rose had only landed on the next level beneath the one she had currently been on. The only part that hurt was hitting the durasteel floor. But she recovered, with only slight bruises on her arm and shoulder. Unfortunately, she no longer had a weapon and could not fight the stormtroopers. She ducked into an alcove as she heard the sound of their plasteel armor clanking just nearby. From where she hid, she saw the same company leading the Doctor away down into a corridor of the city.

She followed on behind as silently as possible, and found her way leading away from the white-walls of the upper city into a darker, gunmetal lower city. She saw them enter a room, and she hid against an alcove in the wall as they came back this way. From where she hid, she could hear all that went on within the holding cell.

"Welcome, Doctor," the mechanical rasp of Darth Vader greeted.

"Master," the Doctor returned.

"Your will is strong, Doctor," Darth Vader's voice replied. "It kept you alive during the Time War. Even now, you stand defiant before me, thinking that I am incapable of destroying you, believing you have faced my worst in our endless battles across time and space."

"Yeah," the Doctor retorted.

"What you fail to grasp," Vader said. "Is that I have become more powerful than you could ever have imagined."

For a moment, there was silence. Then, suddenly, Rose's heart dropped. She heard a sound that she had never heard, that she never thought she would hear: the sound of the Doctor's will being broken.

"No, no, no!" he shouted. "That's madness! It's a waste! There's so much more that I, that _we_, could do! So many more things to see, so many more people to save! It's not fair!"

"You cannot outrun the inevitable, Doctor," Vader said. "You destroyed me once, but I, who have gone farther than any on the dark road to immortality, returned. It is only fitting that I destroy you as well."

"You can't change time, Master!" shouted the Doctor. "Even if you kill me, the Empire _will_ fall, it's a fixed point in time."

"We have ways of changing such things," Darth Vader said.

* * *

"You may take Captain Solo to Jabba the Hutt after I have Skywalker," Darth Vader said.

Minutes had passed. After the interrogation of the Doctor, Darth Vader went into another cell. Suddenly, Rose heard the tortured screams of Han Solo. This done, Darth Vader exited the holding cell and was speaking to someone else.

"He's no good to me dead," a cool, grim voice said.

"He will not be permanently damaged," Vader replied.

"Lord Vader," Lando's voice called after the Dark Lord. "What about Leia and the Wookie?"

"They must never again leave this city," Vader ordered.

"That was _never_ a condition of our agreement," objected Lando. "Nor was giving Han to this bounty hunter!"

"Perhaps you think you are being treated unfairly?" Vader asked. There was silence. Though Rose had had the amazing luck to not be directly involved in any battles where Vader himself had fought against them, she had heard of how deadly the Emperor's right hand could be.

"No," Lando resigned.

"Good," Vader returned. "It would be unfortunate if I had to leave a garrison here."

There was the sound of a sealing door, while Lando muttered something Rose could not discern. As she peered out of the alcove, she quickly ducked back inside. There were too many stormtroopers about, and doubtless they were looking for her as well. Instead, she turned about and decided to go inside the wall. One of the panels nearby was loose, and she pried it open with her hands and crawled through: a tight squeeze, but she was desperate.

Rose crawled for a long time on her hands and knees in this narrow shaft, with no idea of where she was going. Above her head, the ceiling had a grating which sent narrow shafts of light down into the corridor, which gave her some little illumination. On and on she crawled, until she became aware that it was getting cooler. The tunnel was now grated off and she was about to push it open when she heard Darth Vader's voice. Biting her tongue, she crawled forward as quietly as possible.

Beyond the grate was a room, with a giant cylindrical machine in the center that seemed to be in half. At the top there were walkways that led to it from the various sides of the room. Up on one of those walkways, she could see the dark shadow of Darth Vader. There were others as well, but she could not discern who they were until they spoke.

"Lord Vader," a human's voice spoke. "Ship approaching, X-wing class."

"Good," Vader replied. "Monitor Skywalker and allow him to land."

"Yes, milord." the uniformed man nodded, then walked off.

Rose's heart froze. Luke? He was coming here? Maybe he could help them. But she quickly dismissed this. He was young and inexperienced, whereas she still had the Doctor.

"Lord Vader," Lando spoke. "We only use this facility for carbon freezing. You put him in there, it might kill him."

"I do not want the Emperor's prize damaged," Vader replied. "We will test it on Captain Solo." The sound of heavy boots walking was heard, and Rose was about to leave when she heard something that set her heart racing. The boots stopped, Vader turned about and said three words more.

"And the Doctor."

* * *

Rose crawled back out of the corridor, eager to find the Doctor and try to break him out. She had failed him before on the Death Star, but not today.

Having crawled thus far already, it was no great feat for Rose to find her way back. Soon she saw the light of the open wall panel and crawled out. She came out head-first and slowly pulled herself out. Once she rose to her feet, she suddenly heard a gun being raised into position.

"Don't move," the cool, grim voice said.

Rose turned about and saw a helmeted figure, clad in dark green, staring her down through the black T-shape in his visor. His weapon was raised at her head, and he was so close that there was no chance of missing.

"You're the bounty hunter," she asked. "The one taking Captain Solo to Jabba the Hutt. Am I right?"

An almost imperceptible nod was given by the masked figure.

"L-Listen," Rose began, trying to act tough. "I'm trying to rescue my friends, and Captain Solo and the Doctor are among them. I'll need help."

"You can't afford me," the bounty hunter replied.

"L-Look, I have powerful friends," Rose continued. "The Alliance, they-they'll pay you handsomely. Double of what Vader's paying, if you help us. Please, I just want to save the Doctor."

Silence once again. It was unnerving to Rose. This masked thing, just staring at her from behind the visor, never speaking. She wanted to shout at him, make him say something: the silence was starting to get to her. But she knew that if she shouted, the stormtroopers - who had left the corridor by now - would find her. And they would shoot on sight.

"Jabba wants the Doctor," the bounty hunter replied.

Before Rose could speak, she suddenly felt a pain in her neck. She reached up and felt something small and metallic sticking into her neck. She tried to pull it out, but her world was already swimming. The green figure, now just a haze before her, was getting fainter and fainter. He must have been leaving. With sorrow in her heart, Rose blacked out.

* * *

**(AN: Decent length, eh? I think I can just make the second chapter really long and make up for this one being not as long as I had promised. And I hope I didn't make Boba Fett too talkative. Most people don't like it when he talks. I read the _Shadows of the Empire_ comic and had no problem with him talking [in fact, I actually imagined Boba Fett with an accent similar to Temura Morrison's, the actor who played Jango Fett and the Special Edition Boba Fett voice, when I read _Shadows of the Empire_, long before _Attack of the Clones_ or the 2nd Special Edition of ESB came out. To me, that was always canon, my own envisioning, which made Bulloch's Robert Newton impersonation a major let-down. In case you're wondering, Robert Newton played Long John Silver on an old Disney movie about _Treasure Island_, he pretty much created the stereotypical pirate, with the "argh" and all that cliche BS, which I don't think fits Boba's character].)**


	20. Search and Rescue

**(AN: I created an incident at the beginning of this chapter, to prove that our Jedi, had they stayed and done as they were supposed to, could have dealt a grievous blow to the Empire and shortened the war by several years, as well as destroy something you will see in the next third of this story.)  
**

**(There's a part of this story that was inspired by the epicness of _Coheed and Cambria_'s "The Broken" from Year of the Black Rainbow. Try real hard to guess which one.)  
**

* * *

**Search and Rescue**

"Attention, all ships in the area," a voice called on the TARDIS' audio speakers. "This is Captain Jorek of the Alliance task-force on Jabiim. Requesting immediate assistance. Attacking the Imperial base in this sector...they caught us by surprise. Their commander...unstoppable! Never seen anything like it, need assistance! Repeat, need help immediately!"

"Mels!" Amy shouted. "Shouldn't we go an' help them oot?"

"We need to find the Doctor," River replied, clutching the controls of the TARDIS. Nothing else mattered to her right now, except finding the planet Luke had described.

"Slow down!" Rory added as the pitching of the TARDIS sent them all swaying dangerously towards the pool. "Wherever we're going, we'd all like to get there in one piece!"

"The Doctor might not have that much time left," answered River.

"Way did we have ta leave immediately?" Amy asked.

"Because Luke won't leave for another six days," River replied. "By the time he arrives, it will be too late."

* * *

Rose's eyes opened again, and she found herself lying in the hall where she had been knocked out. Lying on the floor next to her was the tiny dart, though it looked as though it had been modified from its original setting. Rose breathed a sigh of relief, letting her head hang, thankful that she had not been poisoned. If so, there would have been no rescue. No one knew she was there but the armored bounty hunter, whom she assumed was the one who had shot her.

_I have to find the Doctor!_ she thought.

She ran down the hall, ran around a corner and just as the second door was opening, she slowed down to a halt. Just beyond was the room she had been in, and already she could see that it was heavily occupied. Stormtroopers were there in force, as well as short, ugly looking creatures whose names only the Doctor knew. She heard also the heavy footsteps and the mechanical rasp of Darth Vader.

She slowly crept down to the bottom level, with the others standing on the catwalks above her head. From here, she could hear everything that went on above her head.

"The Last of the Timelords," Darth Vader said. "You shall be first."

"Doctor!" Leia began.

"Quiet, you!" a stormtrooper barked.

"Don't worry about me," the Doctor's voice said. Rose barely suppressed a cry as she heard his voice. It was so strange: sad, and yet forcing that down, to be brave for those above him, or perhaps to show no fear before his arch-nemesis.

"Begin the sequence," Lando said.

"Take care of Rose," the Doctor said to those about him. The only response was a growl from Chewbacca.

Slowly, there was the sound of machinery whirring. Exhaust pipes exhaled cold gases periodically, and at last the sound of clicking and grinding came to a halt.

"I don't want to go!" the Doctor cried.

Suddenly, a lever was pulled and there was heard a great hissing noise, as though a thousand pipes had burst their gassy contents into the chamber just a few feet away from where Rose stood. Slowly, she crawled towards the giant machine, where she knew that cold gas was covering the Doctor. What it would do, however, she did not know. She had heard Lando say something about a carbon freezing, and that it was fatal.

The hissing ended. Rose's hand touched the metal, and it was cold. The machinery drowned out her sobs, the first time she had wept, truly heart-felt tears, since Yavin. There was an ominous thud of metal upon metal, and she barely suppressed an empty cry. Once again, she had lost the Doctor.

"Reset the chamber for Solo." Darth Vader ordered.

"What if he doesn't survive?" the bounty hunter asked. "He's worth a lot to me."

"The Empire will compensate you if he dies," Vader replied.

* * *

"There it is!" River exclaimed. She was hanging onto the TARDIS' main console with one hand while the other held the view-screen in the other. Amy and Rory walked over and looked into the viewer. Before their eyes, they saw a pale-white sphere, streaked with lines of various colors.

"Bespin," Amy read from the screen. "A gas planet."

"There's a city on the edge of the night-side," River said, imputing the coordinates on the console. "That's where he's at."

"Who, the Doctor?" Rory replied. "How can you be sure?"

"The scanners are picking up only one Timelord on the planet," she said. "It's..." Both Rory and Amy could feel the atmosphere inside the TARDIS change as River's countenance fell.

"Wha? What is it?" Amy asked.

"He's fading," River replied sorrowfully. "It's like he's dying, but...but he's not regenerating!"

"Quick!" Amy shouted. "Doo something!"

"I'm going as fast as I can," River answered, tears forming in her eyes.

"Well, then, goo faster!" Amy shouted.

River threw the accelerator levers as far back as possible, ignoring the shower of hot sparks that rained out from the console. Amy, meanwhile, ran to the door and swung it open.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Rory asked.

"Openin' the door," she returned. "That wee, we'll jump off once we land."

"_If_ we land," Rory replied. "At this speed, we're lucky we don't crash!"

"Hold on, raggedy man!" Amy exclaimed, hanging on to the door of the TARDIS. "We're almost theere!"

Just outside the door of the TARDIS, Bespin was slowly getting bigger, devouring the starfield until there was only the brilliant lines of the planet's atmosphere in view. Suddenly, lines of fire broke across the door as the TARDIS' atmosphere shield hit the planet's atmosphere. The lines had disappeared, now visible as a sea of many colored clouds, most of which were a brilliant shade of orange. Slowly, the fire dissipated and there were only clouds.

Slowly, they saw a tiny dark spot in the clouds, that was steadily growing bigger the farther down they went. Now it was disc-shaped, and Amy could just barely see tiny spires rising up from its surface.

"Coming up on Cloud City, Mum!" River shouted. "Hang on to something!"

The disc-shaped city was slowly growing bigger and bigger. But it was too fast. Suddenly, the TARDIS lurched as it slammed into the wall of the city. It spun about for a while, then leveled out and came to rest.

"We didn't have to do that!" Rory exclaimed, rising up soaking wet out of the pool.

"No time to chat, let's go!" exclaimed River, setting the parking break on the TARDIS before jumping out of the open door. Amy ran back, pulled Rory out of the pool and ran after River. All at once, they found themselves up against a door that wasn't opening. Suddenly, River pulled out her lightsaber and dug its emerald blade into the door. Slowly but gracefully, she cut open a hole in the door, into which they crawled in and continued running.

"Which wee are we goin'?" Amy asked.

River switched off her lightsaber, then pulled out the Doctor's old sonic screwdriver, which she pointed ahead and pressed it on. The light flashed and there was a faint beeping sound, which grew louder as she pointed it down the hall.

"Come on, then," she said, running on down the hall.

Down they ran again, barely noticing where they were going. River made a turn, and Rory followed after her, but Amy did not see which way they had turned. She looked this way and that, but she saw no sign of them. Suddenly, she heard a voice down the other end.

"Unit 23 hasn't reported in," a British-sounding voice said. "They're with Calrissian. Find them, make sure nothing has happened. You have permission to use lethal force if necessary."

"Yes, sir."

Before Amy could move, she suddenly saw a figure appear. It was clad all in white armor, with an expressionless mask upon its helmet. Its weapon was aimed at her and they were within a few meters of each other.

"Don't move," the soldier ordered.

"Or what?" Amy replied, too pumped up on adrenaline and the urgency of the Doctor's situation to be thinking right.

Suddenly, a white-hot blast exploded on Amy's stomach. She crumbled to her knees, groaning in pain as she could feel her flesh burning. The figure was now standing above her, blaster pointed at her head. At this distance, another blast would mean death.

Amy closed her eyes, breathing slowly, trying to ignore the pain. She had but a moment to defeat her opponent, and if she failed, there would be no second chances. She reached out, feeling the Force flowing around her like the currents of a river. She could feel it flowing around her, the stormtrooper before her, around the durasteel hallway, and around the grip of her lightsaber, hanging in its belt.

Before the soldier could react, the lightsaber had unhooked itself from the red-head's belt, activated and had imbedded itself in the trooper's stomach. She only needed one blow, and she had won. The trooper fell back, dead almost immediately upon impact.

"Is that th' best ye got?" Amy mocked. "Tray havin' a baby, buckethead!"

* * *

Rose was on her way through the halls of Bespin, following the group of Imperial troops. A small detachment was carrying the Doctor to the bounty hunter's vessel. She knew what she would do now: she would follow them back to their ship, if only to stow away and find some way to save the Doctor. The bounty hunter she had not seen since their encounter, but she felt certain that he would show up eventually and so kept herself ready.

As she was walking, she saw an Imperial officer walking down the hall. She saw something in his hand: the Doctor's lightsaber.

"Oi! You!" Rose shouted.

"Hands up!" the officer said, raising his blaster to Rose. "I've seen your face on the HoloNet. I'm taking you into custody."

The Imperial officer walked over, blaster aimed at her, and ordered her to turn around while he readied a pair of binders. Just as she heard them clicking, she laughed.

"What are you laughing about, rebel scum?" the officer queried.

"Long live the Alliance!" Rose shouted, kicking back with her foot into the officer's groin.

With both hands bound, she squirmed about on the groveling officer, taking his blaster from him and twisting her arms up over her head and aimed the blaster at the officer.

"Alright, now, hand it over," Rose ordered. "Yes, the lightsaber. Hand it over."

The officer rolled the lightsaber over, and raised both hands up.

"Please, don't kill me!" the officer begged. "I'm only doing my job." Suddenly, he kicked Rose's legs, knocking her down. He reached down and pulled the blaster from Rose's hands, pointing it back at her face.

"Stupid rebel scum," he sneered. "You should have stayed at home, girl."

She kicked up again, her legs still free. The officer winced and crumbled to his knees. Rose made her move: thankfully, with both hands tied together, she was able to focus her strength in one, concentrated point. She grabbed the blaster, and the two of them pushed against each other, each trying to push the blaster into the other.

Suddenly there was a blast, a flash of sudden heat, and both Rose and the Imperial officer recoiled, as though they had been struck. Slowly, Rose opened her eyes and looked away. The officer's face had been flash-burned, and he lay dead before her. It was still disgusting, but Rose had seen many of these in her years with the Rebellion. She began searching the officer's uniform, and, thankfully, found what she was seeking. With a little bit of effort, she undid the binders and then retrieved the lightsaber. Now she had the blaster as well as a weapon with which she was familiar.

Just then, Rose heard footsteps echoing down the hallway. She turned towards them, pointing her blaster and steadying it with both hands. To her amazement, the figure that approached was not clad in the usual clothing of the people of Bespin, or in the armor or uniform of the Imperial troops: it was a woman, a human woman with red hair. She was clad in mud-caked boots and wearing clothes that seemed out of place here, but would be considered quite proper on Earth. But the most surprising of this was the blue lightsaber that was active in her hands.

"Alright," Rose spoke, making the red-head jump in surprise. "That's close enough."

"Weet, 'oo are you?" the red-head asked, gripping the lightsaber with both hands.

"You...you're Scottish!" exclaimed Rose. She scoffed. "A ginger Scotswoman with a lightsaber."

"Oi, just watch yerself, Elaysa Doolittle," the red-head replied. "I knoi how teh use this."

"Oh, my God! You're wounded!" Rose exclaimed, noticing the burn mark in her clothing. Rose lowered the blaster, but did not release it. "I don't have any way of helping you..."

"Ach, it's alrayt," the red-head returned. "Aye can manage."

Rose then perked her ears up as she heard other voices down the hall. She heard one, a man's voice, calling out for "Amy!", while another woman's said something that sounded like "Mum!" Moments later, a man with sandy-brown hair and seemingly permanent frown and a middle-aged woman with large, curly blond hair came running down the hall towards them.

"Oh, doin't worry about them," the red-head assured Rose. "They're wuth me."

"Amy!" the man exclaimed when he saw the red-head wounded. "Oh my God, what happened?"

"Stormtrooper," the red-head, to whom the name Amy belonged, Rose guessed, replied. "But aye got 'em as wail."

"Well well well," the middle-aged woman said, turning to Rose. "If it isn't Rose Tyler."

"Uh, I'm sorry, who are you?"

"River Song," the blond replied. "I've heard all about you, the famous Rose Tyler. The big Bad Wolf."

"And who are you?" Rose asked. "And why were you calling for 'Mum'?"

"She wasn't," Amy interjected. "She was calling for 'Ma'arm.'"

"No, I distinctly heard 'Mum'."

"Mels, who is this?" the man asked.

"Rory, 'ma'arm'," River said to the man and the red-head. "This is Rose Tyler."

"Weet, Rose Tyler?" Amy asked. "_The_ Rose Tyler? Ye know th' Doctor?"

"Wait, the Doctor? You know the Doctor?"

"We're his companions," Amy said, gesturing to the man at her side.

"Excuse me," laughed Rose. "But _I'm_ his companion."

"No, don't you see?" River mediated. "We're his companions from the future!"

"So, you're from the future, right?" Rose asked. "Well, how? I mean, how can you prove that?"

"He told me all about you, Rose," River began. "Was very proud of you, he was. More proud of you than any of his companions from that time. In fact, I believe he chose you above all others because..."

_Attention, this is Lando Calrissian_, a voice announced on all the loud-speakers in the tunnel. _The Empire is taking control of this city. I advise everyone to leave before more Imperial troops arrive._

"Listen," River said. "Nice to meet you and all, but we really have to run."

"Who are you looking for, the Doctor?" Rose asked. "'Cuz I know where he's at."

"Ye do?" asked Amy.

"Where is he? Tell us!" exclaimed River.

"The bounty hunter's got him," Rose said. "He's taking him to Jabba, or something. I don't really know what that means, except I remember Han saying something about him owing him money."

"Jabba the Hutt," River finished. "I remember the Doctor telling me about them from his diary. Notorious gangsters, even the Timelords had to intervene in some of their affairs when they started trying to expand outside of their galaxy."

"Right, that's it!" Rose replied.

"Well, come on, then," River said. "Come with us."

"Me? Why?"

"You're the Doctor's companion," answered River. "We're going to save the Doctor, you should come with us."

"Right," Rose said. "Oh, just a minute, how do you plan on getting off the planet? We just heard that the Empire's taking over the city."

"We'll goo the wee we came back," Amy stated.

"Yeah," added Rory.

"How's that?"

"The TARDIS." River said with a smile.

* * *

Hours had passed, and the TARDIS was now floating alongside the many ships of the Rebel fleet. What had turned out to be a fiasco became even worse when the rebel assault on Jabiim failed. Rose was especially dismayed, for she learned that that had been a staging ground for the construction of a base that would be used to assault the Imperial shipyards on Kuat. Without support for their fleet, the Imperial navy would be severely crippled and the war could be ended in a matter of weeks or months. From the scattered reports that were coming through, whatever had happened on Jabiim, the Empire had some kind of Dark Jedi on their side. For River and Amy, they saw now the wisdom of Yoda's words. Had they waited and finished the training, they might have been ready and saved the attack from certain demise.

It was a dark time for the Rebel Alliance. The assault put the Alliance fleet back by at least a year in their progress, not to mention the destruction of Echo Base, the loss of Han Solo and the Doctor, and other things that had happened to Luke. He was very quiet and reserved, and had lost his right hand, which had been replaced with a robotic prosthetic. Just looking at it made Rose cringe, for she recalled how she first met the Doctor, when the mannequins tried to kill them.

Amy's wounds had not been serious, and though the droid that repaired Luke's injury, 2-1B, assured Rory and Amy that he was fully qualified for minor battle wounds, Rory insisted on attending her himself. The bacta treatments healed most of the wounds, leaving only a small scar just a few centimeters right of her navel. Very soon, she was able to be up and about the TARDIS with the rest of them, planning their next move.

"I don't understand," Rose said. "Why can't we just go back in time with the TARDIS and save the Doctor from coming back?"

"You can't go back on your own timeline," River replied. "Believe me, I wish I could."

"Well, we _do_ have a time machine," Rose continued. "And a space ship also, so why can't we just fly back to Tatooine and pick up the Doctor?"

"Noo, see we need teh plan this one out," Amy said. "From what River sayd about thus Jabba th' Hutt, we can' just waltz on in teh his palace an bayg for the Doctor. We'll need to infiltrate his palace, and that'll teek planning, which'll teek tayme."

"Meanwhile, the war goes to hell," Rose pouted, pursing her large lips in sorrow.

"Don't worry, Rose," River assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We'll get him back."

"I hope so." Rose nodded.

* * *

**(AN: Well, I had many ideas on how to end this story, but thought that I would end it this way. I've got lots to do with the _Return of the Jedi_ portion and I've been bombarding you with facts. If and when I take up the prequel/Doctor Who parody half, I will do a lot of explanation, which will be good, so don't worry.)  
**

**(Awkward moment when current companion meets old companion. Also, I had Amy get shot not because I don't like her, but for her to have a moment of awesomeness. Blasters don't kill with one shot, or else Leia would have died on Endor, they _do_ burn [that was cut out of the Special Edition for no reason], stormtroopers need to be a little more accurate, and to have her survive that really speaks of her indomitable will.)  
**


	21. The New Girl

**(AN: Yay, we're in _Jedi_ now, my favorite part of the original Star Wars saga!)  
**

**(Seriously, just bear with me about Master Vader. I can't explain it right now, or else when I do take up the prequel-Who crossover, it will just be vain repetition. The evidence is there, both in _The Phantom Menace_ and in _Doctor Who_, well, not so much evidence but the ability for it to happen, you just haven't put all the pieces together.)  
**

**(Now enjoy this chapter, with a small reference to _Shadow of the Empire_ in the beginning. Yes, I don't like Xizor. I liked _Shadow of the Empire_, but when I read the book, I got the distinct impression that Xizor was an arrogant Gary-Stu who had the whole galaxy in the palm of his hands and was controlling everyone - Jabba, the Emperor, Darth Vader, even the Alliance. But enough of that, read on now!)  
**

* * *

**The New Girl**

_One year later..._

It had been a simple search and rescue mission, but in the end it became a long and drawn-out issue. Apparently, this Jabba the Hutt, the one who had now the Doctor and Han Solo, was no fool. His organization was almost impossible to crack, and the 'Doctor Rescue Group', as they were unofficially called, had to start from the very bottom. They flew across the galaxy in the TARDIS, making powerful friends in high places, helping take down Xizor the arrogant Falleen, against whom Jabba had a grudge for reducing him to a servant by making him speak Basic, among other things. It was slow, but after at least a year, they were confident that they had made enough connections to be allowed to enter the palace.

And so it was that, just as it had been four years ago, the TARDIS materialized upon the sands of Tatooine. But instead of the Dune Sea, a rocky canyon appeared before them, flanked by high mesas and buttresses of rock. Before them, nestled in the hills, was Jabba's Palace, the same color of the sand. Whether for the sake of camouflage or because there wasn't any other masonry available in this area, they knew not. Once they locked the TARDIS behind them, they made their way out and into the sand.

The Ponds were clad in mercenary gear, with Amy wearing a mask that concealed all but her eyes. A sniper blaster rifle was in her left hand, a vibro-axe polearm in Rory's right, and they dragged between them something on a chain that was concealed beneath a heavy cloth.

"This is ridiculous!" exclaimed Amy. "Aim burnin' up in this gear, and, Mels, I can' just let ye do this."

"Well," said River from beneath the shroud. "I'm afraid you have no choice."

"Why can't someone else do it?" Rory asked. "Like Rose?"

Rose walked on behind, clad also like a mercenary, but with her hair tied back and tribal markings on her face. On her belt were two blasters and a small knife she used for hand-to-hand fighting.

"Yeah, I could do this," Rose said. "I'm twenty-two, I'm old enough to be doing this kind of thing."

"But I'm his wife," River reminded her. "If anyone's going to be putting their life on the risk to save the Doctor, it's going to be me."

They walked on silence for a while, when at last Rose spoke.

"I'm a bit tiffed at him, you know," she said. "He never told me he had a wife."

"He didn't?" River's voice asked.

"Wail, what aim tuffed at is this whole charade," Amy said. "Aye mean, there could 'ave been other weeys of gettin' inte that Hutt's palace without..._this_!"

"Well, I obviously don't want to see _you_ doing this," River retorted.

"And do you think we want to see you do it either?" Rory asked.

"What are you gonna do, spank me?"

"Cheeky, isn't she?" Rose jestingly commented.

"Ye 'ave no idea," Amy rolled her eyes.

* * *

Another ten minutes brought them up to the walls of the palace, where stood a huge blast-door. Aside from sand-scoring, which was typical of buildings on Tatooine, there were no blast-marks on the doors.

"Here's somethin' aye doin't understand," Amy spoke up. "Uf thus Jabba th' Hutt's as big 'n bad as people say he is, way haven't more people trayed te take him down?"

"Simple, hun," Rory replied. "They never get the chance."

"Yeah, I guess so," Rose said, looking at the huge door. "Probably just offs them before they even come within sight of the palace."

"Soo then it's a good sayn that we 'aven't been kulled yet?" Amy asked.

"I don't know," Rory replied, then turned to the blond. "Alright, lieutenant, you're up."

Rose walked over to the door and banged on it three times. After a small break, a spherical orb appeared with a glistening red eye on a metal arm. It spoke something in a language that none of them recognized or could understand. All of them except Rose. Three years with the Alliance, hiding from the Empire in the Outer Rim, outside of their jurisdictional territory, had given her one positive thing: a fundamental knowledge of Huttese, one of the three major languages spoken in the Outer Rim. She spoke to the eye everything she had been told to say. After a moment, the eye retracted and the huge door started opening.

Carefully, they entered the dark, smokey tunnel beyond the gate. Inside, however, they saw large, green, pig-like guards with axes come to meet them, snarling viciously. Suddenly a voice shouted, and a humanoid appeared. He was about average height, but the lekku on his head made him look a little bit taller: also his eyes looked red and his teeth like fangs.

"Is that Jabba?" Rory whispered.

"No, it's Bib Fortuna, his majordomo," Rose replied, then turned to the Twi'lek and spoke. The exchange was brief, for Rose explained the situation, but was not allowed to continue. Bib Fortuna gestured to the guards to take the shrouded one along, but Rose spoke up again, adding what they had also decided on doing when they came. The Twi'lek majordomo halted, then gestured down the hallway, leading them with him.

The hallway terminated in a wide room, filled with smoke and many alien guests. In the center of the room was a large throne, upon which sat a massive, corpulent slug-like creature with short, stubby arms, a wide, flat face and no neck. By the sight of the two servants fanning it, they rightly guessed that this was the one they were seeking: Jabba the Hutt.

They stood before the throne of Jabba, upon an iron grate that looked down into a seemingly empty and dimly-lit pit. Before them, they saw Bib Fortuna whisper something into the side of Jabba's massive head. The Hutt growled in a deep voice to something, and suddenly, Rose became aware of another person on the dias, a familiar voice.

"Yes, Your Worshipfulness," the mechanical voice of C-3PO said, with what almost sounded like fear. "What is it you would have me...oh." The Hutt spoke something to the droid, who then demurred, turned about and addressed them.

"The Mighty and Unassailable Jabba the Hutt bids you welcome," C-3PO began. "Uh, he is informed that you have something of a surprise for him. His Excellency informs you that if he does not enjoy your surprise, then you will...surely perish."

They nodded, and then Rory and Amy pushed aside the shroud, revealing River tied to a pole between them. Her hair was out and frizzy again, but all of her clothes were gone, replaced instead by a skimpy skirt that was little more than a golden girdle with a sash on the front and back, and a top that was pretty much a shawl of sheer material. On her arms and wrists were bracelets and bangles, but around her neck was a collar that had a loop for a chain.

"Hello, big boy," River said to Jabba, a smirk on her face.

Jabba the Hutt laughed, then uttered a stream of Huttese which C-3PO translated. "The Mighty Jabba is amused by your gesture, but asks that you inform his new play-thing that he will be referred to as 'master', if you please. However, the Great Jabba the Hutt is bemused, as he has no opening for another on his throne..." The droid gestured to the young, green Twi'lek with a scared look on her face.

"I can dance, master," River replied. "And sing."

C-3PO translated this, to which Jabba laughed again, and then spoke. C-3PO turned back and gave them his response.

"Your offering is accepted by his Graciousness," the droid said.

* * *

**(AN: And all the fanboys can be all "ermahgerd, River's a slave girl in Jabba's palace!" Well, yes and no. She's a dancer, but if you noticed, none of the women in Jabba's palace wear much clothing [there's one, an assassin in the crowd in a red jumpsuit with black hair, but that's just one]. That's why Rose and Amy have to wear disguises, so they don't get stripped down and forced to play for their lives. One reason I had River place herself as a dancer is, well, you shall see.)**

**(One big thing that I think I forgot to mention is the languages. In "Planet of the Dead", the TARDIS was not on the planet and so the Doctor had to translate the language for Lady Christina, whereas in "The Christmas Invasion", the Doctor was in the TARDIS but considered "dead" [ie. not fully regenerated] and the TARDIS' translator didn't work until he woke up. I was able to get away with the alien languages in _A New Hope_ and in _Empire Strikes Back_ [mostly because ESB has no alien languages spoken, it's the biggest human-fest of the Star Wars saga, which is probably why the fanboys love it], but for this, well, you shall see.)  
**


	22. Return of the Doctor

**(AN: Yay for another EU fan-boy moment, inspired by the radio dramatization of _Return of the Jedi_. Also, just to clear things up, there will be no "Jedi Rocks." I always remember facepalming at that moment in the Special Edition since I first _Jedi_ [and then getting disgusted at how fake Sy Snootles was in the original]: so what I'm imagining here is a realistic-looking Snootles singing, well, you can guess what song I'm gonna have 'played' if it's not "Jedi Rocks." Also, since we're on the topic of this scene, there is a moment where Bib Fortuna says something that sounds like "he's gay" [in reference to C-3PO]. I parody that in this story, just for the lols.)  
**

* * *

**Return of the Doctor  
**

"So, tell me," a voice spoke to River in Basic. "Which side are you on?"

She turned about and saw standing there was another human woman, about roughly her height, with flaming red hair like Amy and dressed similarly in the garb of a dancer, though her outfit was blue, which made a fascinating sight next to her hair.

"I beg your pardon?" River asked.

"I know my way around Jabba's network," the dancer said. "I saw someone was trying to get clearance to deliver a present to Jabba, obviously you're it. But I know there's more to it than just that. Why are you _really_ here?"

"And why should I tell you?"

"Because you're new here," the red-haired dancer said. "Friends don't come cheap, and most of them will sell you out the first chance they get."

"And how do I know I can trust you?"

"You can trust me to keep your secret better than you yourself can," said the red-haired woman.

River sighed, then at last spoke, whispering. "I'm on a mission to rescue someone who's being kept here."

The red-head chuckled. "Take your pick." She gestured to the wall, opposite them. River looked and, to her dismay, saw two gray, oblong blocks hanging on the walls. The faces, while not horribly detailed, were not recognizable to her, but she knew that, beyond a doubt, one of them was the one she was looking for.

"Doctor," she breathed.

"Just stay out of my way," the red-head stated. "And your secret stays safe with me."

River noticed the red-head walk away, bump into the golden droid, and then began a short conversation with him. They introduced themselves and River caught the woman's name: Arica. But just barely, as the band started playing "Lapti Nek", Jabba's favorite song. People started gathering and watching as the dancers began dancing. River made her way to the floor and joined Yarna, the eight-breasted Askajian dancer and Oola, the green Twi'lek.

The dance continued on for many long minutes, all the while, from the crowd, Rory and Amy tried not to watch their daughter, barely clad, dancing before this wretched hive of scum and villainy, not to mention Jabba the Hutt, whom both of them agreed was disgusting beyond belief. Rose, at their side, was not watching the dance, but the armored figure watching the proceedings from the back of the room, just barely visible. She recognized the faded green Mandalorian armor and the T-shaped black visor: this was Boba Fett, the bounty hunter who had taken Captain Solo and the Doctor to Jabba the Hutt.

Suddenly there was a commotion on the dance floor. Oola, who had been tied to Jabba by a chain, was dragging at her chain, seemingly attempting to get away from the Hutt. Jabba growled something, then the iron grating gave way, sending Oola down into the chamber. All at once those assembled started shouting and jeering. Below there was the sound of a great iron gate being opened, then Oola's frightened screams, followed by the roar of something giant, and then there was only the jeering and laughing of the crowds.

As if this wasn't shocking enough, suddenly there was blaster fire heard from the top of the stairs that led to the entrance corridor of the palace and everyone's attention was turned thither. From where they hid, Rory and Amy saw a very tall creature, covered in hair, being led into the throne room by a thing nearly half its size, masked and clad in the armor of an Ubese warrior. The thing said something in its buzzing language, to which Jabba replied and summoned C-3PO to mediate the transaction.

"The Illustrious Jabba bids you welcome," C-3PO said to the warrior. "And will gladly pay you the reward of twenty-five thousand." The warrior buzzed its response, to which 3PO replied: "Fifty thousand, no less."

Angered, the Hutt slapped C-3PO down off his throne, roaring at the tiny Ubese. When the poor droid finally rose, covered in the slime and ooze that constantly coated a Hutt's body, he asked what he had said before the Hutt roared a response.

"The Mighty Jabba asks why he must pay fifty-thousand." C-3PO retorted, trying to put on an intimidating tone to underscore the Hutt's outrage.

The Ubese said something, then lifted a tiny metal sphere up in his hand, clicking it and sending a tiny red light blinking. Rose gulped, and everyone practically jumped into cover: only Boba Fett remained unmoved, blaster rifle aimed at the Ubese. To their surprise, Jabba laughed. After spouting out a stream of disgusting sounding Huttese - at least, coming from his wart-ridden, slime-covered lips - C-3PO translated the compromise.

"Jabba offers a sum of thirty-five, and I do suggest you take it."

It worked. The Ubese shut off the thermal detonator and stored it away once again. The band started up again and as the crowds started dispersing back to their pazaac, sabac, dejarik and their drinks, Rory and Amy pushed through the crowd to speak with River, who was on the opposite side of the room, watching as the giant hairy creature was being led away. Just then, Amy halted as Bib Fortuna whispered something to the Ubese as C-3PO was walking by.

"Did he just see 'he's gay?'" she whispered.

"He said 'Ee say,'" Rose replied.

"Hello, Mum," River said, joining the two 'mercenaries.' "Looks like we're moving tonight."

* * *

It was night-time on Tatooine, with only two of the three moons in the sky. Within the palace of Jabba the Hutt, all were quiet and, hopefully asleep. Out of the darkness appeared the lithe figure of the Ubese bounty hunter, walking quietly among the shadows. Just on the edge of the sleeping forms crept River, watching the movements of the bounty hunter. It seemed to be moving towards the wall, where Captain Solo and the Doctor were kept in their slabs of carbonite. Very carefully, she followed the bounty hunter up to the side of the wall, where was an alcove that hid them more or less from sight. She turned to the carbonite slab that was on the far right of the wall, farthest from the throne. Carefully watching the bounty hunter's movements, she matched them on the side panel of the slab.

The figures in the carbonite started to glow red as they were being melted out, but while one continued as it had, bright flashes of golden light shone out of the cracks that were starting to appear in the other. For a moment or more the light shone, and River's heart ceased beating beneath her chest. Something was wrong, why was this happening?

Suddenly, two bodies hit the sandy floor of the palace. The bounty hunter knelt down beside hers, while River attempted to do the same with hers but something happened. Suddenly he rose up on his own. Though his clothing were unfamiliar, she recognized the face as the man she loved: the Doctor. He was up on his feet and examining his person with his hands.

"Legs!" he shouted, gripping his knee with both hands. "I still got my legs! Hands, hands, hands, I know I have them, but why can't I see them?" His hands moved up to his face, touching his eyes. "I can't see! I'm blind! I'm blind! I've regenerated blind! No, I'm not blind!" His small eyes blinked and then he continued feeling his face. "Ears, nose..." He measured it by reaching out. "I've had worse." Then his hands touched his chin. "Blimey!"

"Doctor, shh!" hissed River.

"Hair..." he rubbed back his hair, then suddenly exclaimed effeminately. "I'm a girl! No! I'm not a girl!" He held his hand down over his eyes. "And still _not_ ginger! There's something else, there's something else! I'm...I'm...I'm..."

Suddenly, River's heart dropped again as she heard the deep laughter of the Hutt.

"In trouble," the new Doctor stated.

"I know that laugh," Han Solo added.

The curtain on the far side of the room, which had formerly been drawn over the throne, was pulled back. They were in trouble. The Doctor turned about to the throne and made a noise of disgust as he saw the large Hutt on his throne.

"Hey, Jabba," stammered Han Solo to the wall, then the Ubese bounty hunter, whose mask had been removed and was actually a young woman with dark hair and pale skin, turned him to face the throne. "Look, Jabba, I was just on my way to pay you back and I got a little side-tracked. It's not my fault!"

"Ah! It's too late for that, Solo," growled the Hutt. "You may have been a good smuggler once, but now you're Bantha fodder! Ho ho ho ho!"

"Hey, look..."

"Take them away!"

Strong hands grabbed Solo, River and the Doctor and started dragging them away, despite the protests from the Captain. They were dragged away into a dark corridor leading down and were thrown into a dark cell. Solo, however, was dragged towards another cell and thrown in there. Meanwhile, in their cell, River and the Doctor had their reunion. And it began with River slapping the Doctor.

"Ow!" he exclaimed. "What was that for? Something I haven't done yet?"

"No, but something you _have_ done," River returned. "We could have gotten away with it if you weren't shouting like an idiot!"

"Well, you try being trapped in carbonite for a whole year, incapable of regenerating because your whole metabolic process is frozen," rambled the Doctor. "It was the closest I'd ever come to death since...ever!"

River, however, knew otherwise. While there was quiet for a moment, they heard the roar of a large Wookie nearby. Two pairs of ears leaned against the side of the cell and heard the reunion of Captain Solo and Chewbacca.

"He can't see," River said. "Why can't he see?"

"Hibernation sickness," the Doctor replied.

"But what about you?" River queried. "You couldn't see for a moment and then you can see now."

"I'm within the first fifteen hours of my regeneration," the Doctor replied. "My body detected it and must have regenerated my eyes."

"Well, it doesn't matter," River said. "Because we're all here, and we're going to get you out of here."

"Really?" exclaimed the Doctor. "You shouldn't have. This Jabba the Hutt is bad news. Jedi mind tricks don't work on him and only outrageous amounts of money might motivate him, operative word being 'might.'"

"How about Jedi?" River asked. "I've followed your instructions."

"Instructions? Which instructions?"

"To train Jedi," River replied. "I brought Amy and Rory with me, they're here, waiting for the cue to move."

"Who?"

"Amy and Rory," River returned, realizing something was wrong. "You know, the Ponds. My parents. They're here!"

"River, I've never met them before," the Doctor said solemnly. But then, his demeanor suddenly changed. "But, I do have something for Rory, if those blasted Imperials haven't stolen it and if the carbonite didn't destroy it." The Doctor reached into the blue jacket he was wearing and pulled out the lightsaber with an exclamation. "They stole my lightsaber, I guess Master Vader never mentioned to them that Timelord pockets are bigger on the inside."

"You keep it until we meet them again," River said. "But what's this about Master Vader?"

"The Master is Darth Vader," the Doctor replied.

"But who's the Master?" River asked. "And wait, what about Luke?"

"What about him?"

"Well, he told us that on Cloud City, Darth Vader said that he was his father," River began. "How can that be, especially if he's the Master? Does that make Luke a Timelord, or what?"

"All in due time, all in due time," the Doctor said. "I bet that was a shock for the young Skywalker. Right now, we have to get out of this prison and rendezvous with the Alliance."

"But who is the Master?"

"He's a Timelord," the Doctor began. "A renegade Timelord, the worst of the worst of my people. I thought he had died in the Time War, but he survived somehow, and latched himself onto..."

"Wait, Doctor, what is it?"

"My sonic screwdriver!" he exclaimed. "I haven't got it! I could break us out of this cell, but I haven't got it! I lost it in the asteroid field, it's inside an Exogorth's..." River held up the sonic screwdriver. "You got it! Blimey! So _that's_ how the TARDIS ditched us on Tatooine. You summoned it! Well, that makes perfect sense. Egh, blue! What was I thinking, all that hideous blue! I mean, the TARDIS looks good in blue, but I need a new color." River stowed the lightsaber Rose had rescued from the Imperial officer in her pocket.

"Doctor," she asked warily. "If you don't remember Amy or Rory, how do you remember me?"

* * *

They were making their way down the tunnel, evading the near-sighted yet watchful gaze of the pig-like Gamorrean guards. Yet even in their disguises, they hoped they would be able to evade detection. Suddenly, there was a beeping noise and a prison-cell door swung open. Standing there, in the doorway, were River and the Doctor.

"Doctor!" hissed Rory and River from within their disguises.

"Wait, who is this bloke?" Rose asked, removing her helmet to get a better look in the dim light.

Though he was clad just as she remembered seeing him on Cloud City, this person looked wholly different. His hair was longer, his eyes smaller, looking almost beady without substantial eyebrows, and he had a prominent chin.

"It's me, Rose!" the Doctor said, holding out his arms as if to expect a hug. "I'm the Doctor!"

Instead of a hug, Rose slapped him across the face.

"Ow!" exclaimed the Doctor. "That is the second time that's happened to me tonight. And what was this for, Rose?"

"You never told me you were married," Rose returned.

"Honestly, Rose, this is no time for jealousy!"

"Or that you had other companions besides me," Rose continued. "I thought I was special, I thought you loved me!"

"'Ey, that's may chayldhood friend you're shouting at," Amy interjected.

"But he's _my_ Doctor!" Rose then turned back to the visage. "Or he _was_ my Doctor."

"I told you about this, Rose, remember?" continued the Doctor. "On the Death Star. I said that Timelords had a way of cheating death. The odds of surviving carbonite freezing process were one hundred thousand to one, Han caught the one, I didn't. I had to regenerate, I'm sorry."

"But into _this_?" she exclaimed. "I mean, you look younger than I am! I mean, what if you're not even the Doctor?"

"Remember when we first met?" the Doctor asked. "It was the Autons, they were in your department store, in the basement. I said to you, 'I'm the Doctor, by the way, what's your name?' And you said..."

"'Rose,'" she replied.

"And I said, 'Nice to meet you, Rose, run for your life!'" the Doctor laughed. "Ha ha! I can't believe how melodramatic I used to be!" He turned back to Rose, who's expression hadn't changed. "But remember, we were the only ones in that room. No one else could have known that but you and the Doctor: me."

"Doctor?" she whispered, barely able to believe her eyes.

"Uh, guys?" Rory spoke. "I think we're in trouble."

Just down the hall, they could see a group of Gamorrean guards walking towards them. Amy moved towards them, removing something from out of her disguise.

"Get back in your cage!" snorted the first Gamorrean.

"Way?" asked Amy. "Are ye gonna meek us?"

The green creature lunged at her, and in one swift motion, she had activated her lightsaber and lopped its squat head off its short neck. It fell to the ground with a clunk, and she looked down mockingly at it.

"Ye and who's body?" she said.

"Great one, Mum," River congratulated.

"Wait a second," Rose suddenly interjected. "We can hear it. Just now, when the Gamorrean spoke, we heard it in English."

"Yeah, so?" queried the Doctor.

"So!" she exclaimed. "I've been in this galaxy for four years, I've even had to learn Huttese, and now we can understand what they're saying?"

"The TARDIS translates languages, you know that," the Doctor replied. "But it needs me as well. Without me, you can't hear the languages. But now we have it and we don't need translation, so, we're escaping, right?"

"Not without the others," Rose said. "Han and Chewie."

"And Leia," River stated.

"Leah?" asked Amy.

"The princess!" exclaimed the Doctor. "She was there! She saw what happened to Han Solo, she'll be coming for him."

"She did," River said. "She was that Ubese who brought the Wookie here. But there's one problem..."

"So there is." a voice said. They looked this way and that, and, to their surprise, they saw that they were surrounded. On all sides were Gamorreans and some of the mercenaries and bounty hunters as well. But directly behind them was one with a small dagger and leering red eyes. They instantly recognized Bib Fortuna, and knew that they had been captured.

"Wait, how did you know we were here?" the Doctor asked.

"Arica told me," the Twi'lek said. "Now, let's all go back to our cells, shall we?"

* * *

**(AN: And there we have it! Ten has become Eleven and all the fan-girls [and maybe fan-boys] can ogle about having Eleven and Rose in the same story at the same time.)**

**(Once again, just bear with me in the story. I promise you, it will all work out. This is a first, especially for me, with the Master Vader thing. I usually don't do things like that [see the first three installments of my _Ozian Adventures_ series for how I usually do crossovers], and sometimes, and I won't mention names, I get annoyed when other authors do the same [like with the Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings crossovers, where Harry is actually descended from Numenoreans and Hermione is an Elvish princess], but it was from _Kelvington_'s parody and I thought I would keep it, since it gives the Doctor a personal interest in getting involved in the Galactic Civil War. Episodes like "Father's Day" or "The Fires of Pompeii" remind me that the Doctor probably wouldn't get involved in fixed historical events, so I kept that from _Kelvington_'s parody because it would give him a reason to get involved.)  
**

**(And just think, now that the Doctor and the TARDIS are back, I can dictate all the Huttese/Ewok dialogue into English! Fun fun! [and don't forget to review!])  
**


	23. A Quick Wink

**(AN: Yes, the last chapter was a take on the title of the third/sixth _Star Wars_ movie "Return of the Jedi", only with the Doctor instead, since he is...returning.)  
**

**(Also, since now the TARDIS' universal translator works, we get to hear some people talk in 'English' who have never spoken such before. [ie. Chewbacca and the Ewoks].)  
**

* * *

**A Quick Wink**

_Why does it always end like this?_ River asked.

It was morning of the next day, and there she was, on the opposite side of Jabba's throne, with a collar about her neck. Across from her was Leia, also collared and scantily clad. Their ill-conceived escape attempt last night had been foiled with their much talk, not to mention that Arica had ratted them out. Why she did not know, nor had she the time to ask the Doctor before they were parted.

But then again, her being 'submissive' was all just for show. Part of her costume, which none of her captors had taken into consideration, were the bracelets, which concealed her vortex manipulator on her right wrist. With a push of a button, she could poof back in time and save them from being discovered. But while they were being captured, she had looked over at the Doctor and saw him shake his head. She wasn't meant to do it, apparently, not yet at least.

_Since when have I ever listened to him?_ she thought mockingly. _Besides, this filth mound is hideous!_

She heard a noise at the top of the stairs and saw Bib Fortuna approach a hooded figure. They shared hushed words, after which the Twi'lek led the hooded figure down to the center of the room and approached the throne. By this time, the others in the throne room had stirred, watching with intent the hooded and cloaked newcomer.

"At last!" exclaimed C-3PO. "Master Luke's come to rescue me!"

"Master," Bib Fortuna whispered to the sleeping Jabba, rousing the giant Hutt from his slumber. "May I introduce Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight."

"I told you not to admit him!" growled the Hutt grumpily.

"I must be allowed to speak." Skywalker said calmly.

"He must be allowed to speak," Bib Fortuna repeated.

"Oh! You weak-minded fool!" growled the Hutt. "He's using an old Jedi mind trick!"

"You will bring Captain Solo and the Wookie to me," Luke said, throwing back his hood.

"Ho ho ho," laughed the Hutt. "Your mind powers will not work on me, boy."

"Nevertheless," replied Luke. "I'm taking Captain Solo, and his friends. You can either profit by this or be destroyed. It's your choice, but I warn you not to underestimate my powers."

"Master Luke, you're standing over the..." C-3PO tried to warn, but the Hutt cut him off.

"There will be no bargain, young Jedi!" it growled. By now, the entorage and several guards were closing in on Luke. There seemed to be no escape. "I shall enjoy watching you die."

Suddenly, Luke stretched out his hand and a blaster was called into it. But the Hutt pressed the button on his throne and the trapdoor fell, sending Luke down into the pit below. The blaster in his hand misfired and a Gamorrean fell down with him. From where they sat, River and Leia strained at their collars, watching intently below as an awful grinding of metal gears was heard.

"Oh no!" exclaimed C-3PO. "The Rancor!"

From out of one end of the pit that had been sectioned off with the heavy blast doors, a giant beast appeared that looked like a mutation between a bear and a potato. Its clawed hands were deformed and it was positively the ugliest thing River had ever seen - and she had seen some horrible things in her time. It quickly devoured the Gamorrean, then turned on Luke. But the young Jedi was too quick. He had picked up a bone that lay on the floor and jammed it in the beast's mouth as it was lifting him up to devour him as well. Luke vanished out of sight for a moment, and then was seen scurrying to the other side of the pit. The beast ran after him and then, with a sudden grinding finality, the doors slid shut on the beast's neck. It was dead.

Jabba was furious. He ordered the others brought up from the prison; they would _all_ pay for this outrage. Moments later, River saw the Doctor, Captain Solo and Chewbacca brought up. She was thankful to see that Rose and her parents weren't among them: they had fought off the Gamorreans long enough for them to escape and had evaded capture. Up from the pit was dragged young Skywalker. He no longer wore his hood or cloak, but was still clad all in black. They were brought before the throne, where the Hutt ordered C-3PO to speak.

"Oh, dear," the droid said. "His High Exaltedness, the Great Jabba the Hutt, has decreed that you are to be terminated...immediately."

"Good, I hate long waits," Han Solo commented.

"You will therefore be taken to the Dune Sea," continued C-3PO. "And cast into the Pit of Carkoon, the resting place of the all-powerful Sarlacc."

"Doesn't sound too bad," Han said.

"Don't say that, you don't have any clue what you're getting yourself into," the Doctor muttered.

"In his belly," continued 3PO. "You will find a new definition of pain and suffering, as you are slowly digested over a...thousand years."

"See?"

"On second thought, let's pass on that."

"You should have bargained," Luke said to the Hutt.

"Take them away!" Jabba ordered.

"That's the last mistake you'll ever make," Luke said as they were being led away. River looked after the Doctor, but he shook his head again. What was he doing? Now was the perfect time, and it would be useful.

* * *

Hours later, Jabba and his entourage were on their way across the Dune Sea on his sail barge. Below, on the skiffs that flew about the barge, Han, Luke, Chewbacca and the Doctor were bound, on their way to their execution. River, meanwhile, was once again being forced to dance before the Hutt. Leia, meanwhile, was straining at her collar, looking at those beyond. At the throne was C-3PO, ready to translate whatever was being told him. But she, that is River, felt that this was silly: she knew what was being said, thanks to the TARDIS. Furthermore, she wanted to use her vortex manipulator. If ever there were a better time to use it, it was now.

At last, they had come to the spot of execution. The sail barge and the skiffs hovered above a pit in the sand, at the bottom of which was some kind of creature which River could not rightly guess. The very bottom of the pit was some kind of inverted sphincter, lined with teeth, with many tentacles laying or idling about its center-piece, a beak that groaned and squeaked. Whatever it was, it was a hideous thing, beloved only by the equally hideous Jabba the Hutt. Just below, she saw one of the skiffs pull alongside the sail barge, extend a loading ramp and saw the guards shuffle Han, Luke, Chewie and the Doctor into position.

"Victims of the almighty Sarlacc," C-3PO's metallic voice spoke, amplified over the PA near the throne. The music had stopped and everyone was now at the edge, watching the impending execution. "His Excellency hopes that you will die honorably. But if any of you wish to beg for mercy, the great Jabba the Hutt will now listen to your pleas."

Jabba's entourage laughed, but she remained silent scanning the skiffs. She had not seen Rory or Amy since the debacle in the prison, and wondered what had happened to them. Were they safe, or had they been captured as well and were to be brought out here as well? All she could see were these four. Han was the first to speak.

"Threepio!" the Corellian shouted back at the sail barge. "You tell that slimy piece of worm-ridden filth, he'll get no such pleasure from us!" He nodded sightlessly to Chewbacca. "Right?"

"Right!" growled the deep, baritone voice of the Wookie.

"Oh dear," muttered the Doctor.

"Jabba," Luke challenged. "This is your last chance. Free us or die."

The entourage, and Jabba, must have thought this was some kind of joke, for they laughed.

"Bring them into position," Jabba announced into the PA, taking it from C-3PO.

River was now watching intently as the Weekway skiff guards pushed Luke onto the loading ramp, more like a ship's "plank", ready to be pushed off into the belly of the Sarlacc. She saw that Luke was looking about, first at one of the guards, wearing a mask whose name, River recalled, was Tamtel Skreej. It was an alias, she knew, that Lando Calrissian, former Baron Administrator of Cloud City, had taken when he applied to the Hutt Guardsman Guild, as part of his infiltration of the palace. She saw Luke then look at the sail barge and give a two-fingered salute, flashing an assuring smile their way.

"Push him in!" Jabba ordered.

The Weekway pushed and to River's surprise, Luke jumped. But in one swift motion, he grabbed the edge of the plank, pulled himself up with the Force back onto the skiff, then out of seemingly nowhere, caught something in his hand which flashed in a brilliant emerald light: he was now wielding his lightsaber, fighting off the skiff guards.

"About time," River muttered to herself.

She reached back into the collar on her neck and pulled out that which she had concealed in the early hours before Skywalker had arrived: a bobby pin capable of picking the lock. It was off in no time, and she made her way around the backside of the commotion. Everyone was watching as Skywalker took on Jabba's guards single-handed, they didn't notice one person making her way up and out of the sail barge.

River was now on the main deck, quite ignored by those who were pulling cannons over to fire at the rogue skiff. She ran to the edge of the deck and saw the Doctor on the far edge of the skiff, giving her the thumbs up.

On the skiff, the bounty hunter had flown down and was aiming at Luke with his weapon when the lightsaber hacked it in half. Two other skiffs nearby were firing: one on the skiff with the Rebels and the other on the firing skiff. The third skiff was only manned by three people. It was now alongside the rogue skiff and Rose jumped on, striking at the armored bounty hunter with a vibro-axe. But Boba Fett was quick, and struck her off the skiff with a powerful blow. He then turned to Luke, firing his tow cable on him that immobilized the young Jedi. Rose had but a moment, for the blow had knocked her off balance and she was now tumbling down the sloping ravine into the waiting mouth of the Sarlacc.

Suddenly, there appeared a strong hand that seized hers, keeping her from falling. As she looked up, expecting to see the Doctor, she saw the curly-haired woman River Song, beaming down at her.

"I got you!" she said, holding Rose's hand firmly in her own. Then, whether by the Force or whether she had some other assistance, she had thrown Rose back onto the third skiff. Into this one the Doctor had climbed and while River was pulling herself back up, evading the swing of a vibro-axe wielded by a half-blind Han Solo, she saw Boba Fett target the Doctor.

"Oi! Buckethead!" she shouted at Fett. "There's only one person who can kill the Doctor, and that's me!"

Fett aimed his wrist blaster at her, but did not press the disintegrator: instead, the flamethrower was released. But he underestimated the scantily-clad, Force-wielding assassin Timelord-hybrid before him. She knew that he had a flamethrower, or at least guessed, and for one brief moment, used the Force to compress the fuel tank, exploding it and igniting the fuel in his jet-pack. He was thrown off the skiff, crashed against the side of the sail barge, then slid all the way down into the Sarlacc pit.

Slowly the battle continued as Luke cleared the second skiff, hacking to pieces the guards with his lightsaber or knocking them off into the Sarlacc pit. Once the skiff was cleared, he leaped onto the sail barge, climbed his way up and began taking out the guards on the main deck. All the while, the third skiff, piloted by Amy and Rory, gave him covering fire. Near at hand, a half-blind Han, aided by Chewbacca, saved Lando from falling to his death in the pit of Carkoon. At last, however, there was a loud explosion and Luke and Leia swung down onto the first skiff from the sail barge.

"Let's go," he said. "And don't forget the droids."

"We're on our way!" exclaimed Lando.

* * *

The way back to Mos Eisley seemed rather long. But while they were sailing across the endless seas of sand, they had a few moments of peace. Han's eyesight was getting better and he now could not take his eyes off Leia. They were still some ways out when suddenly the Doctor leaped up and exclaimed.

"What is it?" Amy asked.

"Rory!" he turned about to Rory, who seemed rather morose, considering their recent victory over Jabba the Hutt. "Rory, Rory, Rory! I have something for you, my good man." He reached into his jacket pocket and lifted out the lightsaber, which he gave to the perplexed Rory.

"Uh, thanks," Rory replied.

"Don't mention it," the Doctor said. "Now, let's get back to the TARDIS so I can get out of this ridiculous suit!"

"I liked it," Rose said. Silence followed for a while, then Rose looked over at River, for she had a question for her. "Oi, River. Or, should I call, you Mrs. Doctor?"

"Cheeky," smiled River. "But River will do. What is it, now?"

"What happened, uh, during the battle?" Rose began. "I remember seeing you on the sail barge, and then you disappeared, and then suddenly you were right there, with your hand out, to rescue me."

"Vortex manipulator," she said, pulling the bracelet on her right wrist back to show it to Rose. "It's how I traverse time and space." She looked over at the Doctor with a smile on her face. "After all, we can't all come and go by TARDIS."

"Heads up, everybody," Lando announced. "I've been checking the Mos Eisley HoloNet. Looks like there's a sandstorm coming. It should hit us just as we arrive."

* * *

**(AN: New chapter, will all kinds of awesomeness. There's someone on tumblr with a username 'can't all come and go by tardis', which is an amalgam of the humorous line from _Wicked_ "Well we can't all come and go by bubble", spoken by Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, to Glinda the Good. And I thought it would be cute to have that there, since she is obviously telling Rose about her vortex manipulator. And yes, she has to. That's key to what will happen later on in the story.)**

**(Boba Fett has a better end, rather than being knocked off the skiff by a half-blind Solo [but we all know he doesn't die in the Sarlacc pit. No, he lives on into the Expanded Universe, and is still kicking ass at almost sixty!], and Chewbacca speaks! I know my fellow _Star Wars_ fans will kill me for it, but I thought that since we have the Doctor and the TARDIS, it would be silly to not have the universal translator working. That will come in handy, especially on Endor. I imagine Peter Mayhew's voice as what translated Chewbacca sounds like, maybe a bit more guttural, but close to that.)  
**


	24. Not One for the Diary

**(AN: There's a moment in this chapter that never happened, but was inspired by a River/Eleven picture from Deviantart that I liked so much, I'm gonna include it as part of the story. Moffat and Co. seem determined to keep them apart [I didn't like that, after "The Angels Take Manhattan", where River _knew_ that the Doctor needed a companion and Amy told her to take care of him, she's just like "not today" and leaves], but in my fic, they get a few more moments together than usual.)  
**

* * *

**Not One for the Diary**

Through the sandstorm the group ran, until they reached the hangar bay where sat the _Millennium Falcon_ and Luke's X-wing. Nestled between them was a sand-blasted blue box, with uncharacteristic English letters on the little white sign rather than Aurebesh text. This was the TARDIS, safe and sound, and back in the hands of the Doctor. He ran first, unabated by the flying sand, and held the door open as River, Amy, Rory and Rose made their way into the TARDIS. As he shut the door behind them, he looked down and noticed just how much sand was lying all over the floor. Then he realized that every one of his pockets was filled with so much sand, he could have made a sand castle.

"Alright, now I _need_ to change," he said, shaking the sand out of the blue suit as he made his way to the TARDIS' wardrobe.

"Don't mind me, sweetie," River said, taking the helm while the Doctor went to get changed. "I'll just take us into orbit."

Just a few moments later, the Doctor appeared again. He was now clad in brown trousers, a tan suit jacket with a white shirt.

"A bowtie?" Rose asked, as she saw him adjust a red one at his neck.

"I wear a bow-tie now, bow-ties are cool," the Doctor replied. "Now, let's get a move on. Excuse me, River, this is _my_ TARDIS after all."

"Wait, Doctor," Rose interjected. "Can we go back?"

"Back? Back where? Back when?"

"Back to Earth," she said. "You said that the first moment you got once you got the TARDIS back, you'd take me back to Earth."

"Yes?"

"Well, we have the TARDIS," she waved about. "So, uh, can we go back?"

"Yes, we will go back," he said. "But, there will be a slight delay."

"Slight? How slight?"

"A few hours, maybe a day or two." continued the Doctor.

"Doctor! You promised!"

"Yes, I did, and I'll come through." the Doctor threw a switch and off went the TARDIS flying through space and time. "You know me, I always do."

* * *

The TARDIS was coursing through deep space, on its way to the rendezvous point with the Rebel fleet near Sullust. The companions were currently resting, as they had well earned it from their travels. Rory and Amy were curled up asleep in one corner, while Rose sat asleep against one of the walls of the TARDIS. The only ones awake were the Doctor and River. She had now changed out of her skimpy outfit and back into something a bit more proper, and was sitting back, reading through her diary, making a sub-note about what had happened since they left London.

"Sweetie, come here for a moment," she said, placing the book at her side.

The Doctor turned away from the view-screen he had been watching and sat River, sitting there with a warm, inviting smile on her face.

"I'm busy right now," he said. "There's something wrong with the timeline, and I..."

"Sweetie," she insisted. "Come, sit with me."

"I suppose I won't hear the end of it until I do," he muttered, then left the TARDIS console and walked over to River. He sat down next to her, barely noticing the imperceptible sigh of annoyance in her voice.

"So, what's new?" the Doctor asked, beaming his usual, quirky smile.

"Rose," she said. "Do you have any intention of fulfilling your promise to send her home?"

"Yes, I do," he nodded. "But I can't, not like this."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it hasn't happened yet, but it _will_ happen, even though it already _has_ happened," the Doctor began to ramble. "It's in your future but in my past. In a little while, there will be a time when you will have to leave me."

"Leave? Why?"

"Because it's the reason I'm still here," the Doctor replied. "If you don't leave when I tell you to leave, I won't be here. Now, when you leave, make sure you take the TARDIS with you. That's important, the TARDIS is key. Without the TARDIS, none of this will work. Now, when you go, I want to warn you: I haven't met you in the past, so I may not exactly trust you. Please, don't let me get away with anything. Remember the first rule..."

"The Doctor lies," she replied.

"Exactly. Now, I want you to leave your vortex manipulator lying about," the Doctor continued. "Rose will find it, and she'll use it, I _want_ her to use it. She'll go back, and then you'll get it again, and then when she's back, I'll be able to send her back."

"But why can't you send her back now?"

"Because, the timeline has been corrupted," the Doctor explained. "I'm a Timelord, I can see the future and have knowledge of what happens in various divergent timelines which may have ceased to exist. In the time we know, Rose never knew me as this. I can't take her back now, because the timeline would be disrupted. I would be dead by the time we're together."

"Doctor, tell me what's going on," River demanded. "You're scaring me with all this talk of leaving and dying."

"But none of that has to happen, River!" the Doctor replied. "Don't you see? If you go back, you can stop all of this. I know you can. Just make sure you don't take any of my bollocks, well, the past me, that is." He smiled then prepared to leave.

"Doctor," River said.

"Yes?"

"If this is our last chance," she said, slow and trying hard to hold back her emotion. "There is something I'd like to do, with you. Something I don't think we've done before."

"Oh?"

"Sit back down," she said. The Doctor complied, while she straightened out her legs, then looked at them, then back at the Doctor. He looked at her, then at her jeans, then back and seemed to be trying to determine what she was implying.

"Oh, you silly man!" she laughed. With that, she took him by the shoulders and sat him down, then laid his head on her right shoulder, wrapping her arms around his thin frame.

"What is this?" the Doctor asked.

"It's called cuddling, Doctor." she replied, a single tear falling down her face.

"Hmm," he mused. "Strange."

"What is it?" she asked.

"I...feel...safe," he said slowly. "Like, how I felt years ago, before the War, before I lost everyone. We should do this more often."

"Yes, sweetie." River replied. She didn't want to let go. If he was right and she had to leave, she didn't want to let go: if she let go this time, it might be the last time.

* * *

**(AN: Aww, isn't that sweet? But there's plot development as well. Things may get confusing, but it will all sort itself out in the end, so don't worry.)**

**(If you didn't like it, don't worry, because we'll be going back to the main story in the next chapter.)  
**


	25. Endor

**(AN: And now back to the story.)  
**

**(Thank you, _2ndbestdetective_, for your review. I really wanted to include Martha and/or Donna [I even wished that I could have Jack fighting on the ground in the Battle of Endor], but in the end, it didn't really help the progression of the story. Don't worry, you'll like this chapter.)  
**

* * *

**Endor**

The Doctor, Rose and the Ponds woke up as the TARDIS arrived in orbit of Sullust. River insisted that she take the helm for the landing inside the hangar of the huge Mon Calamari cruiser, or else, as she said, the Doctor would cause multiple hull-breaches. The TARDIS landed safely inside the giant hangar, where they, one by one, exited and made their way through the huge ship to one of the main conference rooms, where a debriefing was scheduled.

They sat at the back of the room, among the pilots and troops that had assembled. Near the front were Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, the latter of whom were now generals. It was only now that they realized just how diverse the Alliance really was. So far, the only alien they had seen had been Chewbacca. But here they saw Sullustans, creatures about five feet or less, with wide ears, black eyes and large jowls. Also there were the Mon Calamari, a race similar to earthen octopi, with large eyes, domed heads and finned hands.

At last, during a lull in the conversation, there was a tone heard and a middle-aged woman with short, red hair, clad in white, appeared.

"Who's that?" Rose whispered.

"Mon Mothma," a familiar face whispered. It was Feor Drex. The lights dimmed and a holographic image of a green planet with a tiny red sphere orbiting it appeared.

"The Emperor has made a critical error, and the time for our attack has come," Mon Mothma began. "The data brought to us by the Bothan spies pinpoint the exact location of the Emperor's new battle-station. We also know that the weapon systems on this Death Star are not yet operational. With the Imperial fleet spread throughout the galaxy in a vain effort to engage us, it is left virtually unprotected. But most important of all, we've learned that the Emperor himself is personally overseeing the final stages of the construction of this Death Star."

A quiet murmur echoed through those gathered. Even among the Ponds and Rose, this meant something. They knew, if only secondhand, that the Emperor was by now the one true ruler of the Empire. With him out of the way, the central governing power of the Empire would be gone, the Empire scattered among what was left of the admiralty. And so divided, it would be much easier to destroy and bring peace back to the galaxy.

"Many Bothans died to bring us this information," Mon Mothma said grimly. Once more there was silence among those assembled. The Ponds noticed that even the Doctor's face was set, grim and determined. After Mon Mothma finished, Admiral Ackbar, a Mon Calamari, continued with the briefing.

"You can see here, the Death Star orbiting the forest moon of Endor," Ackbar continued. "Although the weapon systems on this Death Star are not yet operational, the Death Star does have a strong defense mechanism. It is protected by an energy field which is generated by the nearby forest moon of Endor. The shield must be deactivated if any attack is to be attempted. Once the shield is down, our cruisers will create a perimeter, while the fighters fly into the superstructure and attempt to knock out the station."

"That's like how the Battle of Yavin went," Rose said. "Only we didn't fly _into_ the Death Star. That's daft!"

"General Calrissian has volunteered to lead the fighter attack," Ackbar stated. There were some words exchanged between Han and Lando, then another human, General Madine, concluded the briefing with the last part of the plan.

"We have stolen a small Imperial shuttle," Madine said. "Disguised as a cargo ship and using a secret Imperial code, a strike team will land on the moon and deactivate the shield generator."

"Sounds dangerous!" exclaimed C-3PO.

"I wonder who they chose to pull that off," Rose could hear Leia mutter to Han. Then almost laughed when she saw Leia's expression when General Madine responded with:

"General Solo, is your team assembled?"

"Uh, my team is ready," Solo replied. "I don't have a command crew for the shuttle."

"What about me?" growled Chewbacca.

"I knew it was gonna be rough, pal," Han said aside to the Wookie. "I didn't want to speak for you."

"I volunteer!" the Wookie repeated, raising his hairy fist.

"That's one," Han said.

"General," Leia added. "Count me in."

"And me!" the Doctor exclaimed, rising to his feet suddenly.

"I'm with you too!" another voice said. All eyes turned to the door at the top of the conference room, where they saw Luke Skywalker, dressed as he had been on Tatooine, walking down the stairs. Oh, what a joyous reunion it was among his friends, hugging, shaking hands and saying their greetings. From the top of the room, near the exit, they heard C-3PO comment on what R2-D2 had said.

"Exciting is hardly the word I would choose."

* * *

"Soo I guess thus means we're going with ye, Doctor?" Amy asked, as they were making their way back to the TARDIS through the _Home One_ cruiser.

"Only if you choose to do so," the Doctor said. "Could be fun, could not be."

"Have we aever turned down an offer to go with ye?" Amy returned.

"No, we haven't," Rory added.

"And it doesn't look like we'll be starting any time soon," River added with a smile.

As they passed down one corridor, they saw Rose speaking with Mon Mothma. The Doctor was about to call out to her when he saw her present Corporal Jobin's last words and his gift to her. Though he was now a different face, the Doctor remembered all that had happened on Hoth and gave the leader of the Alliance this privacy.

"I know," they heard her say. "General Madine told me as much earlier. Thank you, captain."

After Mon Mothma left, Rose turned to the others with a kind of grim smile on her face.

"Captain?" the Doctor queried.

"I fought on the front-lines of the Battle of Hoth," she said. "A lot of good blokes survived 'cuz of me. It's not just me, though. Solo and Skywalker are generals now."

"Yeah, I know," the Doctor said.

On they went, and now they came to the TARDIS, which they saw it nestled by the Imperial shuttle General Madine had mentioned previously. One by one, they made their way into the bigger-on-the-inside space-time machine of the last of the Timelords.

"This is brilliant, absolutely brilliant," the Doctor said. "Why didn't I think of this before?"

"What is it now, sweetie?" River asked.

"This part of the history of the Galactic Civil War always annoyed me the most," the Doctor said, holding his hands up as he began. "Because of what's going to happen on the forest moon of Endor."

"And what's that?" Rory queried.

"The Ewoks, a primitive race of diminutive 'teddy-bears', almost single-handedly defeats the technologically superior Empire," the Doctor continued. "Three thousand of the Emperor's best troops defeated by furry midgets. It's the turning point of the war, but it never made any sense to me. It's like sending Leonidas' three hundred Spartans against one Dalek: assured massacre for the weaker side."

"Soo how dud the Ewooks win the battle?" Amy asked.

"Because," the Doctor said, a smile on his face. "There were three Jedi at the battle, one of whom has mastered the ancient use of Battle Meditation."

"Battle what?" asked Rose.

"Battle Meditation," the Doctor continued, flipping a switch and getting the TARDIS back online. "An ancient use of the Force to inspire and strengthen warriors in the battle. Usually the most powerful Jedi Masters and consulars sat in the rear, using their Battle Meditation, while the padawans and guardians went first into the thick of it."

"So we're going to use this Battle Meditation," Rory reasoned. "To give the Ewoks a fighting chance against the Empire?"

"Might as well," the Doctor returned. "The Emperor's doing the same with his soldiers, and once he dies, all hell breaks loose. Literally, they lost two Stardestroyers within five minutes of each other, one of which was the _Executor_, the largest and most powerful of all Stardestroyers, not to mention the chaos on the ground and in space afterwards."

"But who knoiws Battle Meditation?" asked Amy. "Aye mean, we dudn't learn that from Yoda. Weet, should we goi back and ask him teh..."

"Yoda's dead," the Doctor replied. "His kind are long-lived, almost as long as a Timelord, but they're still mortal. Sickness claimed him in the end." He turned back to them. "We're all that's left, well, us and Luke, well, us as, oh, maybe I shouldn't say it just yet, huh?"

"Spoilers, sweetie." River smiled cheekily.

"Right!" exclaimed the Doctor. "Now, while the TARDIS' chameleon circuits are stuck on blue British police box, the cloaking device still works. And while our brave commandos take the _Lambda_ shuttle through the hard way, we slip quietly past the blockade and shift ourselves through the shield and onto Endor before you can say 'Geronimo!'"

"Don't you mean _allons-y_?" Rose asked.

"I saw 'Geronimo' now, Geronimo's cool." the Doctor said hastily. "Now, don't forget the camouflage jackets. I had Drex send us some that were our size. They're in the TARDIS' wardrobe."

They went back and started gathering their camouflage gear. Rory and Amy first appeared, both clad in camouflage jackets and pants with helmets. River wore a poncho only over her black pants and blouse, with her big, curly hair tied back behind her head as it had been on Dagobah. Rose was dressed like the Ponds, but her hair she kept long.

"Here, look at this," Rory said, pulling out a camouflaged backpack. "This funny text just translated itself before my eyes."

"TARDIS' universal translator," the Doctor added.

"It says 'field medic'," he laughed, a smile on his face. "I've been a nurse, but never a field medic."

"I told Drex to get you something appropriate," the Doctor said. "Used the ol' psychic paper to show him that you had credentials. Sorry, but they don't know whatever British medical school you went to, had to make it up on the go. Anywho, you've got something else to do besides playing with that lightsaber."

The Doctor then returned to the console, pulled a lever and with a laugh, the TARDIS whooshed and whirred as it dematerialized out of _Home One_'s hangar.

"We're there," the Doctor said, pulling up a console screen. The others queued up behind him as they saw the blue-green planet below, with the Gibbous Moon-like wreck of the half-finished second Death Star. "Our friends should be here in a few hours, so we can just slip behind the shield, land on Endor and just lollygag and fiddle-faddle about until they land."

"Loolygag an' fuddle-faddle?" Amy asked. "Never heard of thouse before."

"Why don't you and Rory do something besides snogging while we wait, hmm?" the Doctor asked.

"Lake what?"

"Teach him how to use that lightsaber," the Doctor said. "I, meanwhile, have to make a new one for myself."

"What about your old one?" River asked, presenting the Doctor with the one which had been stolen from him on Bespin.

"Egh!" he exclaimed. "I don't like blue anymore, blue's not cool. I like green, green's cool. I need a green lightsaber. Do we have any crystals or do we need to drop by Illum and pick up some, hmm? I think there aren't anymore on Dantooine, that was four thousand years ago. Still, Ponds, lightsabers, now."

"But I know how to wield a sword, Doctor," Rory retorted.

"Yeh, but these late-seebers are a but difficult," Amy said. "It's goot a lot o' power an' kick, and ye doin' want teh scratch yerself wuth it or ye'll lose a lumb."

"I think I can manage," Rory replied.

"Shoo me," Amy said, unhooking her lightsaber from her belt.

"Mummy and Daddy fighting," River said cheekily. "This I have to see."

"Oh, please," the Doctor said. He pulled a lever and the TARDIS shook slightly. The Ponds stumbled a bit, trying to keep their lightsabers from hitting each other.

"Doctor?" Amy asked.

"Nothing wrong," the Doctor said. "We're just passing through the energy field. Bit of turbulence, you know."

"Wait a minute," River suddenly said. "I was there, at the hearing. The others, you could have taken them through the TARDIS, a whole squadron inside. No need to penetrate the shield, the Empire would have been clueless."

"Yes, I know," the Doctor continued, keeping his eyes on the TARDIS' main console while he pressed buttons and pulled levers. "But, that presents a problem."

"What's that?" Rose asked.

"Vader," the Doctor began. "See, he is the Master, but he's Anakin Skywalker as well."

"Who's Anakin Skywalker?" Rose queried again.

"Luke's father," the Doctor began. "Greatest star-pilot in the galaxy, most powerful Jedi during the time of the Last Council. Until he fell to the Dark Side, seduced by the Emperor. But just how he became the Master, though, is not for you two to find out just yet."

"Why not?" Rose and River asked as one.

"Because that knowledge is in your future," the Doctor said. "But Luke already knows that Darth Vader is his father. He _needs_ to be here. Vader will sense his presence and come to Endor."

"But that's bad, isn't it?" Rose asked.

"No, it's actually rather good," the Doctor continued. "'Cuz Luke is going to leave, think he's drawing the Empire to their location, endangering the mission, so off he goes and gets taken aboard the Death Star and the rest, as they say, is history. The only thing is that Luke _has_ to know that Vader's on the ship. There are very few things in the galaxy that the Force can't detect: ysalamiri, cracks into the Void, and...the cloaking device of a Type 40 TARDIS."

"You're gonna let Luke get captured?" Rose asked.

"He's our only hope," the Doctor said. "Not _our_ hope, mind you, but the hope of a galaxy. Well, maybe he _is_ our hope."

"But if Vader's the Master, you're sending Luke up against a Timelord!" Rose began. "That's dangerous."

"Yes, it is," the Doctor admitted. "But, Vader is also Anakin Skywalker. He doesn't want to believe it, but it's true. You'll find out all the answers in time, Rose. Trust me." He turned back to the TARDIS console, then exclaimed.

"Here we are!" he said with a smile, then ran to the door of the TARDIS and opened it. Beyond was a forest stretching on for miles in all directions. "Come on, now."

One by one they walked out of the TARDIS and made their way onto Endor. It was indeed rather beautiful, one of the more beautiful worlds they had seen. For the British companions, who had never in their lives been to the West Coast of the United States, it was their first time seeing trees this massive and breathing air that hung heavy with the fresh, clean smell of evergreens.

"Welcome to Endor," the Doctor said. "Come along, now. Gotta lock the TARDIS." He walked back to do so, then suddenly halted and turned back to the look at the group. Performing a quick head-count with his eyes, he saw only three people here. He turned back into the TARDIS, opened the door and looked at the console. Something had appeared, which he sauntered over and picked up. It was a new sonic screwdriver, with a small, beeping green light at the end. As he picked it up, he looked on the edge of the TARDIS' console and saw that River's vortex manipulator was missing.

"Good luck, Captain." the Doctor said with a sad smile.

* * *

**(AN: Okay, long time no update, I'm starting to watch season 5. I might get to like Eleven, though Ten will always be my favorite [unless I get to watching the old series]. Other than that, I've got research on the older drafts of _Star Wars_ to do with this story, since content from the rough drafts MAY be included [you already saw one part, with Rory, a non-Jedi, using a lightsaber. That was part of the original draft of _Star Wars_, but Lucas changed it so that the lightsabers became iconic weapons that were Jedi-exclusive. They still are, but his use of one becomes important later on.)  
**

**(Always love your reviews, so keep 'em coming!)  
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	26. Ewoks

**(AN: Most people don't like _Jedi_ because of the 'puppet' aliens, but then whined when they were replaced by digital ones in the Special Edition. They also hated the cuteness of the Ewoks and how they could dominate the Empire, but they preferred cutesy little "Jub Jub" over "The Saga Ends". I can't stand the puppets in _Jedi_ either, especially Snootles in Lapti Nek, but that's because I saw Yoda and know that they could have done better. I also recall that many Ewoks died during the ground Battle of Endor and that didn't make them invincible. But "The Saga Ends" is much more epic than "Jub Jub" so I prefer that. But even though I hate what the Blu-Ray Special Edition did to _Jed__i_ ["No...No!" were my exact words when seeing what they did to Vader in that scene], I think it's ridiculous that the fans don't want Ewoks to blink. Have you ever tried not blinking, especially when you think a Weeping Angel is after you? In the verisimilitude of the story, Ewoks are real creatures and therefore MUST blink, even if the fan-boys don't like it.)  
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**(Okay, the rant is over, enjoy the blinking Ewoks and my explanation for how they won the Battle of Endor.)  
**

* * *

**Ewoks**

"Doctor!" Amy shouted, turning back to the TARDIS.

"Yes?" the Doctor asked, poking his head out of the door.

"Where's Rose?" she asked. "She's not out here with us."

"Well, she had to step out," the Doctor said. "Actually, Captain Tyler is A.W.O.L. Don't tell Mon Mothma, though."

"What do ye mean, A.W.O.L.?" Amy returned.

"I mean that she left," the Doctor said. He looked over at River and winked. "But, that's not to worry. She'll be safe now, and once River does what she has to, she'll be even safer. And she'll be able to go home the proper way and have all sorts of new adventures with the Doctor: me, just with a different face."

"What are ye talkin' about?" Amy asked.

"Nothing," the Doctor returned. "It's all in the past, actually. The present is now, and now..." He looked up at the sky, then laughed. "Look up in the sky! What is an Imperial _Lambda_ shuttle doing so far away from the shield bunker?"

They all looked up as they saw their friends make their landing on Endor. The loading ramp fell and the squad of commandos exited the ship, led by General Han Solo. Behind came the others, General Skywalker, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2 and the others. While they were walking, they saw the Doctor appear from behind a tree.

"I know you like to shoot first, General," the Doctor said, arms raised. "But I assure you, we're friendly."

"Doc," Solo said with a smirk. "How did you get here? There's a shield around the planet."

"Same way as you," the Doctor said. "Piggy-backed my TARDIS on the back of your ship, disconnected when the shield went down and miscalculated the landing. Anyway, all's well and good. We're coming with, remember?"

"Yeah, sure," Han nodded. "Fall in."

* * *

The walk through the forest had been rather uneventful for at least an hour. The Ponds and River, with their camouflage, blended into their wooded surroundings. Meanwhile, the Doctor, along with the droids, stood out the most. While they were walking, River made her way up to the Doctor.

"Sweetie," she began. "Are you still in need of a lightsaber?"

"Yes and no," he returned.

"Come again?"

"Yes, I need a lightsaber," he said. "But no, I don't want that blue one. You keep it, you'll look great wielding two."

"But we're going farther and farther from..."

"No need to worry," he said with a wink. "I've got all the materials, all I need is a rest and I can have a new lightsaber in three hours, two if there's no interruptions."

"How?"

"Pockets," he said with a wink and a smirk. "Bigger on the inside." River rolled her eyes, then ducked as she saw General Solo giving them the order to get down.

"Oh, I told you it was dangerous here!" exclaimed C-3PO, who was not very flexible and so could not bend over.

"Doctor," whispered Amy. "What's goin' oin?"

"Scout troopers," the Doctor replied. "Just two of them. Shouldn't be a problem. They can take care of this without our help."

"Come oin, Doctor," Amy protested. "Aye've been weetin' te get a crack at these Imperials sunce Bayspun."

"And you will, in time," the Doctor rolled his eyes. "You humans and your desire to kill everything in your path."

"What? They're the bad-goiys, aren't thee?"

"You shouldn't want to fight, Amy," the Doctor began. "A Jedi does not seek battle. He or she uses the Force to learn and protect."

"Yes, Yooda." she rolled her eyes.

"He had a point, you know," the Doctor continued. "But enough of that. I let them go because they _have_ to go. We need to make contact with the locals."

"Loocals?"

"Ewoks," the Doctor said. "About a meter high, all cute and furry, egh!" He made a noise of disgust. "Too cute, for my tastes. But, they help the Rebels find the shield generator and fight in the battle. Which is why we're here: if we're not here, I fear it might end as a slaughter."

"But way? And aren't ye interfering wuth the tamey-wamey, as ye alweeys put it?"

"Timey wimey's already been altered, all we have to do is make sure it doesn't get altered too much," the Doctor said. "Too much and we'd have a paradox and the bigger the paradox, the universe might unmake itself. But that's what's confusing, because the Master as Anakin should have created a paradox as it is, and yet it hasn't. I haven't felt anything in the time-stream."

Suddenly, the sound of blasters being fired was heard just beyond the trees. The Ponds and River gripped their weapons, but they didn't move. The blasters were silenced and soon most of the commotion had died down. Minutes later, one of the soldiers was dragging a dead scout trooper off into the foliage to be hidden.

"General?" the Doctor asked. "Where are Skywalker and Organa?"

"Two of the scouts escaped," Han said. "They went off to keep 'em from givin' our position away. In the meantime, we'll camp out here until they return. Shouldn't be too long."

"As you command, General," the Doctor said cheekily, giving him a mock salute. As the soldiers started relaxing, the Doctor walked over to the Ponds, took out the materials from his pockets, and started working on his new lightsaber.

"Paradox?" Amy asked. "What do ye mean, paradox?"

"Haven't you felt it?" the Doctor asked. "Something's out of place, but I haven't figured it out yet. You'd think that after spending thirteen years in the era of the Last Council, the final days of the Old Republic and even fighting in the Clone War, I would have figured out _something_, but it's still illusive!"

"Wail, if ye can't saynce it, what makes ye think aye can?"

"You're Amy Pond, the Girl Who Waited, a Jedi padawan of the New Order. You can see things others can't. Come on, Pond, I know you can do this! Now you go do that while I work on this."

At least an hour passed, and the Doctor was busy using the sonic screwdriver's spare power cell to power his new lightsaber. Amy and Rory sparred again, once more keeping wary not to hit either of them. River watched and kept massaging her wrist, wondering if she had set the correct coordinates in her vortex manipulator. Suddenly, C-3PO alerted them that someone was coming. The Doctor stowed the pieces of his new lightsaber away, then joined the others as they hid from the newcomer. One by one they came out as they saw it was General Skywalker.

"Where's Leia?" Han asked.

"What, she didn't come back?" Luke returned.

"I thought she was with you," Han said, now sounding seriously concerned.

"We got separated!" Luke said. "Hey, we better go look for her."

They started giving out orders as the squad would split up. The commandos would go in search of the shield generator while Han, Chewbacca, Luke, and the droids went in search of Leia. The Doctor waved them over and joined in line as they made their way downhill through the forest.

"Is she alright, Doctor?" Rory asked.

"Oh, she's fine," the Doctor dismissed. "Just got a little bump on the head, speeder bike accident. Lucky, though. As fast as those things go, one wrong move and you're dead."

"Beautiful location, a million ways to die," River commented. "Just like old times, sweetie."

"Which would be amazing when they happen," the Doctor added.

Another hour passed as they went in search of Leia, along the path they had taken during their pursuit. Even with R2's scanners and the Doctor's screwdriver, they could find no trace of the Princess. But it was not until they found two wrecked speeders and a camouflage helmet that they began to worry.

Suddenly, Chewbacca ran off on his own, followed shortly by the others. He had found some kind of animal impaled on a stick and was examining it curiously. As the Ponds came up behind them, River and the Doctor held out their hands. Lucky to, for when Chewbacca reached for it, a net encompassed them.

"Great Chewie!" Han grumbled. "Always thinking with your stomach!"

"I was hungry!" growled the Wookie in protest.

"Will you cut it out?" Luke asked. "Let's just figure out a way to get out of this."

"Weet!" Amy exclaimed. "We'll haylp."

"I'm not sure that's a very good idea," C-3PO stated. "It's a very long drop."

"We'll goo slowly," she said. "Rory, Mels, c'moin."

Three lightsabers sprang to life: Amy's blue, River's green and Rory's red. One by one, they got to work cutting the net. All the while, Luke instructed them to be careful: one wrong move and they'd end up dead. When Rory passed by Luke, he saw that the young Jedi was eying him suspiciously.

"What's wrong, General?"

"Your lightsaber," Luke said. "Where did you get it?"

"From the Doctor," Rory replied.

"And where did _you_ get it?" Luke asked. "I've only ever seen a red lightsaber one other time."

The Doctor held his finger up to his lips, then whispered the answer in Luke's ear.

"See? You're not alone in this fight after all," he said.

"Well, this is good," Luke replied. "Yoda said I should pass on what I've learned. Looks like that's already happening."

"Great, more doe-eyed optimists with laser swords running around the galaxy," Han sarcastically said.

"Careful now!" the Doctor said, reminding the Ponds of their predicament.

But it was too late. R2 was the first to fall, almost crushing River under his weight. The others fell more or less on top of them, knocking them all down among the ferns. As they rose, they suddenly realized they were not alone. A dozen or more small, furry figures with primitive weapons were gathering about them in a lose circle. One of them with black fur streaked with gray and an animal's skull on his head, pointed a spear at Han as he was rising.

"Hey!" Han said. "Point that thing some place else."

"Teebo, put the spear down," a brown-furred Ewok next to the dark-furred one, Teebo, said.

"They have weapons!" argued Teebo. "They look like the Faceless ones."

"No, they don't," the brown one said. "The Faceless always shoot Ewoks first, never wait for us to come to them. These ones haven't."

"They don't look trust-worthy, Pabloo," Teebo replied, pointing his spear back into Han's face.

"Hey!" shouted Han, grabbing the spear and pulling his blaster out of his holster.

"Han, don't," Luke assured him. "It'll be alright."

"Weet a munut," Amy said, looking about at Han, Luke and Chewie. "I doin't thank thee can hear what they're sayin'." Just then, an Ewok with a flat face approached the sitting form of Amy and petted her brilliant red hair.

"TARDIS' universal translator," the Doctor said. "But, they haven't been in the TARDIS, so they can't hear what they're saying."

Just then, another Ewok pointed a spear at the Doctor. "I come in peace!"

"Hand it over," the Ewok demanded.

"Hand what over?"

"That thing in your hand," the Ewok said, pointing to the sonic screwdriver. "Hand it over."

"Please, I don't think..." But before the Doctor could continue, C-3PO rose up from where he had lain, hidden in the ferns, and all the Ewoks suddenly exclaimed  
'the Golden One!' Some began chattering among themselves, but after a while, all of them started bowing and chanting at the golden droid.

"Not this again," the Doctor said. The others were not listening, for C-3PO was engaged in translation with the Ewoks. But the Ponds were nearby and heard what the Doctor had said.

"What is it?" Rory asked. "What's going on?"

"They think C-3PO is 'the Golden One', one of their pantheon of primitive deities," the Doctor said with a slight scowl. "It's the oldest story. Someone with superior technology arrives and the primitives think he's a god."

"Shouldn't ye say somethin'?" asked Amy.

"No, don't," River interjected. "This is just too good to miss."

"What are you telling them?" Han asked C-3PO slowly.

"Hello, I think," C-3PO began. "I may be mistaken, they're using a very primitive dialect, but I do believe they think I am some sort of god."

"All hail 3PO the Talkative!" R2-D2 whistled sarcastically.

"Well," Han said, equally sarcastic. "Why don't you use your divine influence and get us out of this?"

"I'm terribly sorry, General Solo, but I'm afraid that wouldn't be proper."

"Proper?"

"It's against my programming to impersonate a deity."

They could see Luke trying hard not to laugh, and River herself was biting her lower lip. Amy also broke down into laughter, but stopped when she saw the serious look on the Doctor's face.

"You know I loathe religion," the Doctor said. "This is just another example of the dark side of the Rebellion: manipulating ignorant creatures' superstitions for their own ends."

* * *

Hours had passed since the Ewoks picked them up, and now they were tied to logs and being dragged away to their village, which they called Bright Tree Village. Each of the logs were carried by two or four Ewoks apiece, with one or two on each end. Once they arrived amid their village, nestled up in the branches of the giant trees, they were placed in the center of a large crowd of Ewoks. C-3PO sat upon a throne of wood and was talking to one, Logray, the chief medicine-man of Bright Tree Village, who was waving Luke's lightsaber - currently offline - in his free hand.

"I got a very bad feeling about this," Han said as they were being placed on what looked like a primitive spit.

"What do you intend to do with them?" C-3PO asked Logray.

"They will be roasted and served as the main course in your name, Golden One," Logray said, gesturing to the captives.

Suddenly, the Ewoks began banging little drums and singing songs as they passed logs among each other, piling them up beneath the captives. While Han received the translation from C-3PO, River turned over to the Doctor with a smile on her face.

"What, you think this is funny?" he asked.

"Here we are, both bound hand and foot," she replied. "Just like old times."

"This is possibly the **_worst_ **possible end I could ever have had!" the Doctor shouted. "Let me get shot by a Dalek, a Cyberman, die of old age, radiation poisoning, have my second heart ripped to shreds by you stupid human doctors, anything but being roasted alive by...teddy-bears!"

"Isn't there anythin' ye can do?" Amy asked.

"Not even with my sonic screwdriver," the Doctor said. "It's all wood."

Just then, there was a commotion and they saw Leia, clad in simple clothes with her long brown hair all un-braided and hanging loose about her shoulders, walking freely among the Ewoks.

"Leia?" Luke and Han said one after the other.

"Your Royal Highness," greeted C-3PO.

"But these are my friends!" Leia said to the Ewoks, who continued to pile sticks and logs around them. "3PO, tell them: they must be set free."

C-3PO did as he was instructed, but Logray's response seemed to be rather offended. Han rightly commented that it didn't help things much. Meanwhile, River was trying to remove her hand from the ropes. Luke, meanwhile, had another idea.

"3PO," he said calmly. "Tell them if they don't do as you wish, you'll become angry and use your magic."

"But, Master Luke, what magic?" an incredulous C-3PO returned. "I couldn't possibly..."

"Just tell them." Luke insisted.

"All you Ewoks," C-3PO began. "Hear my voice, hear now my voice! Let these go free, or I shall become angry and curse you with my magic!" He held up his hands, and for a moment, the Ewoks faltered. But they soon continued their efforts, with little heed. Suddenly they stopped again, all running about and screaming in a panic. C-3PO's wooden throne was floating above their heads.

"What's 'e doin'?" Amy whispered to the Doctor. "Is it the Force?"

"Yes," the Doctor returned. "Just replacing one belief system with another."

Despite the Doctor's dismay, they were soon released. Furthermore, C-3PO was able to negotiate with Chirpa, the Chief of Bright Tree Village, to hear their story out at a gathering of the elders that night.

* * *

That night, C-3PO told the Ewoks the tale of their adventure, complete with realistic sound effects. All the Ewoks, young and old, were gathered about, listening intently to what was being said. Among them sat Luke, Han, Leia, Chewbacca, R2-D2, the Doctor and his companions. Thankfully, however, the Doctor was no longer in a sour mood. This was what he would rather them do: explain their situation and hope the Ewoks would choose to help them.

"Would you look at this?" Luke whispered over to the Doctor. "And he said he wasn't good at telling interesting stories."

"He does have his moments," the Doctor nodded, turning to the others. River was behaving rather distant than usual, and Amy was leaning on Rory's shoulder. The dim light of the fire in the midst of the hut was hypnotizing and sleep-inducing if one stared into it too long. The Doctor turned then to C-3PO, who was now finishing the story. Chief Chirpa and Logray spoke for a while, then the chief turned to C-3PO.

"Your story is interesting, to say the least," the gray-furred Ewok said. "But how does it concern us?"

Suddenly, a young Ewok stood up from among those gathered and spoke thusly.

"Honorable Elders," he began. "We must aid this noble party not less for the trees, but more for the sake of the leaves on the trees. These Rebels are like the Ewoks, who are like the leaves. Battered by the wind, eaten without thought by the tumult of locusts that inhabit the world - yet do we throw ourselves on smoldering fires, that another may know the warmth of light; yet do we make a soft bed of ourselves, that another may know rest; yet do we swirl in the wind that assails us, to send the fear of chaos into the hearts of our enemies; yet do we change color, even as the season calls upon us to change. So must we help our Leaf-brothers, these Rebels - for so has come a season of change upon us."

Meanwhile, those who had not traveled the TARDIS looked on in wonder, as C-3PO was not translating what was being said. At last, Chirpa and Logray discussed again and they came to a decision. Once again the sound of drums and woodwinds and Ewoks singing was heard throughout the trees.

"Wonderful!" exclaimed C-3PO. "We are now part of the tribe."

"Just what I always wanted," Han said as an Ewok hugged him.

"This is ridiculous!" growled Chewbacca.

"Well, short help's better than no help at all," Han said to his co-pilot. He then turned to C-3PO, who was telling him about the Ewoks knowing the location of the shield generator. The Doctor, meanwhile, saw River depart along with Luke out of the tree. Telling Amy and Rory that he would be back, he made his way through the Ewoks and went after River.

"River?" he asked into the night, the dim light of the Ewok huts faint and distant in the night gloom. "Are you there?"

River turned about, and the Doctor could see that she was not alright. Her face was stricken with grief, though she shed not a single tear.

"Doctor," she said. "Do you remember what you told me, so long ago, that one time when it was just the two of us?"

"Yes," the Doctor said. "Though I do recall we've had more time together, alone, just the two of us, since then. So I don't know exactly what you're getting at."

"That time on Gallifrey," River began. "You said that one day, we would part and you would never see me again. You said that I would see you again, but as a different face. Everything you said to me in the TARDIS, before this operation began, everything! It's happening, isn't it?"

"What?"

"I'm going to die," she said. "You'll send me back in time to save yourself and Rose, and I'm going to die. Aren't I? Tell the truth, for once, Doctor!"

But the Doctor had no answer. He merely looked at River with a kind of strange curiosity.

"You were never like this before," he said. "What brought this on?"

"Maybe I'm tired of being the strong one," she replied. "Maybe I'm tired of us living our lives out of synchronization."

The Doctor shook his head. "You knew things would be like this when you married me. 'For better or for worse', as I recall. But what's more, I know you can do this. Why? Because you are River Song, and what is impossible for other people is possible for you."

"But what if this is the end?"

"Oh, it's not the end," he dismissed, then became suddenly solemn. "If you don't go, it _will_ be the end. And none of this will happen."

"I don't care, history can be rewritten."

"Not like this, River." he shook his head. "Not like this."

Then, she turned about, wiped her eyes and sighed. "I'm sorry, Doctor. I don't know what came over me."

"I do," he said. "I've lived long enough to know just how painful it is to be immortal, to see the ones you love slip through your fingers and you powerless to save them. But don't worry, River, do you know why? Because this is not the end. Hmm? I've looked into the future, and it doesn't end like this, not yet."

After a moment of silence, she turned about. "How does it end?"

"Spoilers, Doctor Song." the Doctor said with a wink.

* * *

**(AN: Lots going on in this big chapter. I'm thankful that there's enough lore for me to make lots of long chapters. The Ewoks are now speaking in a language other than Ewokese, and I tried to make them a little less cute. That speech of Wicket's [for that is the young Ewok who spoke] is from the novelization of _Return of the Jedi_, and I thought it meet to be inserted therein, as it was cut from the film and it seemed that the Ewoks chose to help the Rebels a bit too hastily.)**

**(I'm sorry, Whovians, if my depiction of the River/Doctor scene was out of place. I know that, according to you and the documentary "The Women of Doctor Who", none of the women of _Doctor Who_ are capable of being weak. But I thought that even River would have doubts, especially if she were being told that she would have to leave and knew that it might be the last time they were together [note that the instructions the Doctor gave to her in the TARDIS in "Not One for the Diary" were almost identical to what he might have given her in "Silence at the Library", which is the last time she ever sees him. Though she's not dead, she cannot exist outside of the Library's computer]. I mean, as much as I support strong female leads [see my _Wicked_ fan-fics for proof of that], even the strong grow weary of being strong. Is that too bad?)  
**

**(There will be more, so don't you go away.)  
**


	27. Return of the Jedi

**(AN: This chapter title is pretty plain, but it explains what happens here, as you shall soon see.)  
**

* * *

**Return of the Jedi**

In the morning, the Doctor and his companions awoke to find that Luke was gone. Leia said nothing, but assured them that they had to continue their mission. So, armed once again, thanks to the Ewoks returning their weapons, they made their way through the forest to the shield generator. However, as it was heavily armed and defended by an AT-AT, the Ewoks told them of a secret entrance. So on they went, following Pabloo and Wicket through the woods.

Meanwhile, however, the Doctor was walking about with a smile on his face as he held two things in each of his hands.

"Anyone want to ask me what I'm so happy about?" he asked.

"What are ye soo happy about?" Amy replied.

"Last night, I finished this..." With his thumb, he pushed the button on the metal cylinder in his right hand, and a meter-long blade of emerald energy sprang to life.

"Ah? You like that?" he laughed. "New lightsaber. Now, all we need to do is find out where these Ewoks are leading us."

"And then?" Rory asked. "What happens to us then?"

"We need to find a place," the Doctor said. "Somewhere out of the way, a place where a Jedi can center him or herself. Remember, Battle Meditation, otherwise it'll be a complete slaughter. Amy?"

"Hmm?"

"Remember what I told you before," the Doctor instructed. "Keep searching. Something's out of tune in the universe, you can sense it. Use the Force if you have to, I know you can do it, Amelia Pond."

Just then, Princess Leia turned about and addressed the Doctor.

"You're not thinking about walking out on us again, Doctor?" she asked. "It was bad enough we never had you after Yavin and Bespin, but now?"

"Don't worry, Your Highness," he said. "I'm doing something that's important to what will happen."

"But do you have to take them with you?" she gestured to River, Amy and Rory. "They had my back on Coruscant and Nar Shadda."

"Oh, of course not," the Doctor replied. "I believe in free will, they come or go as they please. If you'd like them to go off into the shield bunker with you and General Solo, by all means: convince them."

After Princess Leia spoke with the Ponds, they decided that they would go with the others while River went with the Doctor. Amy was a little annoyed, but felt better about the situation since she was with Rory, her Roman centurion, the one who had spent two thousand years at her side: to her, there wasn't any other place safer in the galaxy. So on they went, until they came to the back entrance of the Imperial shield bunker. The Doctor, meanwhile, made his quiet escape alongside the back hill into which the bunker had been built.

"Three thousand of the Empire's finest," the Doctor said, watching below as Pabloo commandeered a speeder bike and led away two of the three guards from the front entrance. "Against two dozen commandos and a forest full of little furry things."

"That's what we're here for, sweetie," River said, as they passed through the trees.

They came to a place, at last, that overlooked the wooded valley where the battle would soon take place. Already, they could see the landers bringing down the troops. Four AT-STs were deployed, as well as thousands of stormtroopers, scout troopers, and dozens of officers. One by one, those outside the bunker were being captured and rounded up while a squad ran into the shield bunker.

"There!" the Doctor exclaimed. "And now, above our heads, Admiral Ackbar is soon going to realize that the leak of the location of the Death Star was a trap." He looked about and then smiled. "Well, we found the right place." He sat down upon the ground, sealed his eyes and began to enter a meditative trance. "Ahh! Here we are."

River, meanwhile, was eying the valley where the commandos and her parents were being led out of the shield bunker by the Imperial troops. She whispered to the Doctor that she would be back, then made her way down the hill behind the lines of the Imperials. Having trained as an assassin, she slipped through the forest and behind the trees without making a sound. At last, she was on the opposite side of the shield bunker, where R2-D2 and C-3PO were hiding behind a tree. She gestured for them to stay back, then whistled as loud as she could.

"Hello there, bucket-heads!" she smiled cheekily.

"Bring her down here!" one of the officers shouted. Immediately a squad of stormtroopers ran up the side of the hill, all of them aiming their blasters at River.

"Don't move!" one shouted.

"Isn't anyone gonna ask me what I'm doing here?" River asked. "How rude!"

"Uh, what were you doing there?"

"Well," River began, a smile on her face. "I was on my way to this Wookie Life Day celebration, when I suddenly thought: 'Gosh, the Empire's a bit of rubbish, I think I'll kill the Emperor.'"

"Shoot her!" one stormtrooper shouted.

"Before you do," River said, holding up one finger. "You might want to look out."

Suddenly, the stormtroopers were attacked by two dozen furry Ewoks, jumping out of hiding from the trees and swinging down from ropes. Then the woods were echoing with the sound of horns being blown, and Ewoks seemed to be appearing out of nowhere. For one moment there was consternation, and the Rebel commandos attacked their captors.

For River, who could feel the Force, the battleground was alive with action. She could sense the Doctor's presence, not only in all of the commandos but in all of the Ewoks. Their primitive weapons were guided by his hand, and they hit the joints of the stormtroopers, the only point where their armor was weakest. The stones they slung from their slings were more accurate, striking at the officers so that the troops would scatter. But there was one thing that seemed a constant threat to those on the ground: the AT-STs. No matter how much the Doctor governed the Ewoks with his Battle Meditation, their primitive weapons could not penetrate the heavy durasteel armor plating. Even the rocks they threw from gliders up among the trees did nothing but clank harmlessly off the steel roofs.

Meanwhile, the Ponds were back to back. Rory the field medic moved between clusters of pinned-down commandos, seeing to their wounds. Behind him stood Amy, lightsaber out and deflecting any shot aimed at them. For these stormtroopers were not the front-line grunts who couldn't shoot straight: these were the Emperor's best troops, trained to be the most accurate, deadly stormtroopers in the Empire. They hit their targets, and even within the first ten minutes of the battle, with the Doctor's Battle Meditation as their aid, two commandos were dead along with at least forty-six Ewoks.

Rory quickly found out that being a field medic was even worse than he had originally imagined. They were always targeted first, because their deaths meant that enemy casualties would be higher. It seemed that no matter where he went, the enemy seemed determined to shoot at him above all other targets. Thankfully, Amy was there, lightsaber drawn and Jedi training on her side.

Suddenly, Amy cried out and he saw her on the ground, clutching her knee. An ugly blast-burn was on her knee where she had been hit. He pulled her behind the log under which he had been hiding, and opened up his kit, looking for the bacta injector.

_Never mind that, use your lightsaber,_ he heard a voice whispering in his head.

"Doctor?" he asked.

"Freeze!" an officer shouted. Rory held his hands up and noticed that a squad of stormtroopers and their commanding officer had him at gunpoint.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Rory asked, feeling strangely brave.

"Your our prisoner," the officer said. "You will service the Empire, or..." The officer halted, looked down at the wounded woman behind Rory, then gestured to one of his soldiers towards her.

"Or what?" Rory asked.

"Or _she_ will die."

_Do it, now!_

Faster than Rory had ever seen himself move, his hands reached into his belt, beneath his camouflage poncho, draw out his lightsaber and in one swift swipe, hacked the blaster rifles in the hands of the stormtroopers around him to pieces. Most of them backed away, fearful of the crimson blade, but the officer drew out his blaster pistol.

"Who the hell are you?" he shouted, trying to take aim.

Guided by the Doctor's voice in his head, Rory ducked each of the officer's blasts so deftly, it made him look like a green stormtrooper recruit. He was now close enough: he dug the crimson blade into the officer's black uniform.

"I'm the nurse with the lightsaber," Rory said, scowling at the deceased officer.

Suddenly, one of the large AT-STs came crashing through the trees, aimed its nose blaster-cannons at them and fired. Before Rory knew that he was exposed, River had leaped in front of him, two lightsabers out, and was deflecting the blasts.

"Get down!" she shouted.

Rory jumped and River jumped at the same time, but the AT-ST was persistent and continued firing.

"She's wounded!" Rory said. "We got to get her out of here."

"This way," she replied. "Stay low."

Suddenly, there was another blast from the AT-ST, right at the place where River's foot had been but a moment ago. A wave of heat washed over both of them as they felt the radiation from the blast dissipate.

_Oh, that's not good! _the Doctor's voice in their heads said.

_What just happened?_ River replied soundlessly.

_My meditation was interrupted,_ the Doctor replied._ We're losing._

"Dad, run for cover," she said. "Don't stop running, that scout walker isn't going to stop. You need to find a safe place and take care of Mum."

"Wait, where are you going?"

"To find the Doctor, he needs help."

"I think he would have said so if he needed help."

"You're forgetting the first rule, Dad." River said, activating both lightsabers as she ran back out into the fray.

The jog back to the hills was not easy. The stormtroopers now seemed more accurate than they had before and River had one too many near misses, or light burns where the blasts had just barely missed hitting her body. R2-D2, however, was not so fortunate. As she was running past the entrance of the shield bunker, she saw General Solo and the Princess entrenched at the bunker entrance with C-3PO and R2 joining them under a hail of fire. Just as R2 was plugging himself into the door terminal, a stormtrooper shot him and he went flying backwards against the opposite end, seemingly deactivated.

But even watching that cost River more than she could afford to lose: time and momentum. She barely had time to duck a blast that was just a few centimeters from hitting her full on in the face. With lightsabers at the ready, she ran into the woods, then back up to the hill, where she saw the Doctor facing his danger. Before him stood a bald human, dressed in black, with two red lightsabers in each hand.

"Doctor!" exclaimed River. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yes," the Doctor replied calmly. "A Sith warrior."

"But aren't there supposed to be only two?" she asked.

"Yes," the Doctor continued, keeping his eyes on his opponent. "But it seems the Emperor violated the Rule of Two, isn't that right, Starkiller?"

"I am not Starkiller!" growled the bald man, who stretched out his hands and sent a wave of blue lightning bolts arcing towards the Doctor. Clutching his emerald lightsaber with both hands, the Doctor deflected the bolts back into the vegetation around them.

"Yes, that's right," continued the Doctor. "You're too powerful to be just another Dark Jedi, just another servant of the Emperor. In fact..." He pointed his lightsaber at Starkiller. "I know more about you than you know yourself. I know your 'master' created you to kill the Emperor."

"Wrong," Starkiller replied. "He created me to kill you."

"Doctor," River said. "You can't fight him, you need to meditate."

"No, no!" he shook his head, keeping his eyes on his opponent. "I can't let you face him!"

"Do I really have to handcuff you again, sweetie?" River sighed.

"Enough talk!" shouted Starkiller. Suddenly a pair of crimson lightsabers came flying through the air, spinning about as though they would hack River and the Doctor in two. River held out her right hand, and they halted in mid-air, just centimeters away from their faces. They clattered harmlessly to the ground, and River gave Starkiller a cheeky smile.

Her two lightsabers buzzed to life, blue and green, and she stood ready for battle. Starkiller held out both of his hands, summoning his lightsabers off the ground and back to his hands with the Force.

"Now," River said with a smirk. "Where were we?"

"No matter the outcome of this battle," Starkiller returned. "You've already lost. Even the Last Timelord is powerless to stop the rise of the Empire."

With that, he lunged at River swinging both blades in a vertical slice down upon her head. But she rolled aside, leaped as the recovering Starkiller swept at her legs, and parried another blow to her side. They were now locked in combat, four blades moving so fast that only a Jedi could have properly watched which way they slashed, thrust or swept.

"What are you waiting for, Doctor?" River asked, in between blows.

"Ah, yes!" the Doctor exclaimed. He moved aside, closer towards the battlefield, and began to sit down, when Starkiller noticed this and held out his hand to the Doctor. But the Doctor was just as fast, and held out his hand as well. The air suddenly became tense, as though two great forces were pulling the universe apart at that very point so tightly that a butter knife could cut it apart.

* * *

"Chewie!" exclaimed Han Solo.

To his supreme surprise and relief, the last AT-ST, the one that was now staring them down, had been hijacked by Chewbacca. The majority of the fire-fight had ended. The rest of the AT-STs were in ruins and while many Ewoks had died, so had many of the Imperial stormtroopers. At the entrance of the shield bunker stood Han and C-3PO, with Princess Leia leaning against the wall, having taken a blast to her left shoulder. Amy and Rory were also at hand, him with a blaster in hand and her with her lightsaber out and her knee healing nicely.

"Get down here, she's wounded!" Han ordered Chewbacca, referring to the Princess. Then suddenly he had a second thought. "No, wait! I got an idea."

He turned to C-3PO and told him to tell the remaining Ewoks to gather in hiding around the shield bunker while he tried to contact the rest of the commandos. Fortunately, the damage to R2-D2 was not severe and he was moved out of the entrance easily. While Han was now busy with the details of his plan, Amy and Rory had a few moments to themselves.

"Soo what?" she asked. "We won?"

"Looks like it," Rory said with a smirk. "Where's River?"

"Where's the Doctor?" she asked, then noticed his smile fading. "Ye know aye love ye, Rory." She sighed, trying hard to forget all that had happened in the very short amount of time of the battle. She thought she had seen and heard the worst in her time with the Doctor - the grating voices of the Daleks, the emotionless drone of Cybermen, the cries of dying men - but being thrown into the middle of a battle was far the worst.

"Yeah, I know," Rory returned, trying not to appear affected.

"And aim glad aye had ye wuth me," she said. "There's nobody aed rather want on may sayde in a battle than ye, may handsome centurion."

"Thanks," Rory smiled. "That means a lot."

"But where are thee?" Amy asked, looking about. The Doctor had disappeared and so had River, though she had taken part in the actual battle itself. She wanted to thank them, especially the Doctor. From what knowledge of the Force she had, she knew that they could not have survived without his interference. But she didn't have to look long. There was a sudden cry of "Geronimo!" and the Doctor came flying down from behind a hill, landing directly in between them.

"Could have been worse," he said, noticing the Ponds looking down at him.

"Doctor!" both Rory and Amy said in unison.

"Ponds, lightsabers, now!" the Doctor replied. "River's in trouble."

"But way dudn't she see somethin'?"

"She's your daughter, you know how she's like," the Doctor returned. "Never obeys orders, always rushes in head first with little thought of consequences. But you can discipline her later, she's in danger and she needs the help of Jedi."

"But I'm not a Jedi," Rory said. "I'm just a nurse with a lightsaber."

"Ah, but a red lightsaber," the Doctor pointed out.

"Soo? What's spaycial about that?" Amy asked.

"Yeah." added Rory.

"Red focusing crystals are never used in the lightsaber of a Jedi," the Doctor said. "Remember how I disappeared for thirteen years? I'm sure Rose told you about it. Well, during that thirteen years, your daughter helped me with the elimination of a few of the Emperor's Dark Jedi agents. They wield red lightsabers."

"So?"

"So," the Doctor rambled on. "If Starkiller sees you with a red lightsaber, he'll think twice. He'll think you killed a Dark Jedi, and he just might be afraid. Fear's part of the dark side, you see. They embrace it, so it's worth a short."

"That's completely daft," Rory said.

"And what hasn't been whunaever the Doctor's concearned?" Amy asked.

"Good point," nodded Rory.

* * *

**(AN: That was my behind the scenes with the ground Battle of Endor. There must have been some Force-wielding individual on the side of the Rebellion using Battle Meditation on the Ewoks. How else could they have defeated the Empire? Yes, that was Starkiller from _The Force Unleashed_. And I also used the pre-prequel name for Sith, "Dark Jedi", specifically referring to those who were dark side warriors who were not particularly Sith [like the Inner Circle, Mara Jade or Starkiller]. The idea being that they did not hold the title of Sith warrior/Sith lord and never could, they were always under the Emperor's power.)**

**(And, as you can see, more of the plot is unraveling. But what will Amy find? Oh, that is VITAL to what will soon happen.)  
**


	28. Journey to the Center

**(AN:)  
**

* * *

**Journey to the Center**

"Back for more, Doctor?" Starkiller mocked. "You just don't give up, do you?"

"Never have, never will," the Doctor replied.

River and Starkiller were still engaged in their duel, but Starkiller's years of teaching beneath his dark master left him an equal match for the Impossible Astronaut and her Timelord-hybrid Force sensitivities. Opposite them on the lip of the hill stood the Doctor, a confident smile on his face.

"My master told me everything about you," he said. "You wouldn't let her die for you, but you can't fight."

"Ah, now that's where you're wrong," the Doctor returned. "I _can_ fight, I _did_ fight. I fought the Last Great Time War, which dwarfs this destructive conflict _so_ many times over, you could not even begin to imagine! But I choose not to fight because..."

"You talk too much!" growled Starkiller, throwing his lightsaber at the Doctor.

Suddenly, a blue blade sprang to life, hacking the red lightsaber out of the air. On either side of the Doctor stood the Ponds, lightsabers out and ready. In Starkiller's eyes there appeared doubt, especially when he saw that one of them was neither a Sith nor a Dark Jedi, yet was wielding one of their lightsabers. Just how much did they know? He leaped aside, using the Force to propel him onto the high branch of a tree, then pressed a button on his wrist-guard.

"You're too late, Doctor," he said. "This battle is lost, but the war is already won."

A large ship appeared directly behind Starkiller, into which he leaped and it took off into the sky. At the Doctor's side gathered the Ponds and River, all of them with their lightsabers at the ready. One by one they shut them off, as they saw that their prey had escaped.

"What did he mean?" River asked. "Doctor, he said the war is already won. What does he mean?"

"Amy?" the Doctor asked.

"What?"

"Amy Pond, concentrate! I know you can do this! Anything out of the ordinary!"

"Sorry, aye was a but preoccupaid wuth th' battle," she retorted.

"The battle's done, try again."

"A...weet," she suddenly halted, her blue eyes staring off unblinkingly into the distance. "I just faylt somethin'. Lake a rupple in the Force. D'ye feel it?"

"Yes," the Doctor said, casting his eyes up to the Death Star orbiting the moon.

"The Emperor's deed," Amy continued. "Aye can see ut now. Luke won! But...But there's somethin' alse. I see...Doctor! I see a planet, a desert planet, it's too brait, it's...it's at the saynter of th' galaxy. The stars are soo close tuh-gether, ut's nayver nait. Somethin' thayre, aye...aye doin't understand it! It doesn't make saynce."

"What? What did you see?"

"The Emperor died," Amy said. "He's powerful, aye could just barely feel his preasance leavin' th' pleece. He can cloud one's vu-shun of th' Force wuth th' dark said. But when he day'd, aye could see it." She turned to the Doctor.

"Had Abbadon," she said. "That's the neeme of th' planet."

"Alright, then!" the Doctor exclaimed, slapping his hands together. "Back to the TARDIS."

"But it's miles away," River said.

"Is it?" the Doctor asked, removing his sonic screwdriver. He pushed a button and the green light was flashing. "Or, we could just call it here like you did, River."

The whirring sound of the TARDIS materializing before them was then heard and there it appeared, the legendary blue box of the Doctor. The Doctor snapped his fingers and the doors opened. One by one they climbed in, with the Doctor coming up last, sealing the doors behind them as he sauntered over to the control console of the TARDIS.

"I can let you off if you'd like," the Doctor said.

"Doctor..." Amy began.

"Now wait, just hear me out," he continued. "Had Abbadon is one of the worst places in this galaxy, second only to Byss or Malachor V, if that's even still around. It's bad enough for a human, but for a Jedi, it is a haven of the dark side: so easy to fall the closer you get to the dark center of the universe."

"But we 'ave ye wuth us," Amy said.

"Yes," the Doctor noted grimly. "And that makes this all the worse, because I have darkness in myself as well." He thought back to the time when he tortured the last Dalek to death. That was only one of his many dark deeds, poisoning his heart with the darkness, making him so susceptible to falling.

But River walked up to the Doctor and held his hand in hers.

"We're here for you," she said, smiling.

"Thank you," he whispered to her. Then, turning to the others, he spoke aloud. "Nevertheless, if you truly wish to follow me into the dark heart of the galaxy, you can only do so of your own free will. I would never ask anyone to venture that deep, to go down the dark path that far. It's not safe, you know."

"What _has_ been safe since we first started traveling with you?" Rory asked.

"He's rayt," Amy replied. "Aye'll goo. Someone needs te make sure th' Doctor gets back."

"That's what I'm for, Mum," River said.

"Rayt, and you're not enough," Amy added.

"Well, if you're going, Amy, I'm going too," Rory added.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" the Doctor said slowly.

"Yes!" they all said as one.

"Very well," the Doctor replied, inputting coordinates on the consoles. "Now, a few things before we jump right in. I'll be able to transport us just outside the Deep Core, but going in is the tricky part. Over thirty billion stars populate a space of about seven thousand lightyears, and at the center is a super-massive black hole, slowly dragging them all in. But so many stars couldn't possibly be so close to each other without some adverse effects: space and time are severely distorted the closer we get to the Center.

"For any typical spacer in this part of the galaxy, finding one planet in the Deep Core is impossible, even General Solo and his twelve-parsec Kessel Run would say it's suicidal. But I am not a typical spacer, nor I am Han Solo: I'm the Doctor. I like to laugh and point at what people say is impossible as I do it before their eyes. So, make sure you hang on to something and don't let go for an instant, we're about to do the most dangerous thing one could possibly do in this galaxy par on flying straight into a supernova."

The Doctor threw forward a lever and the whirring noise of the TARDIS leaving Endor and materializing in deep space echoed throughout. It did not, however, last as long as they might have felt. For soon the whirring was over and the Doctor sauntered over to the door, throwing it open as wide as possible.

"Come on, take a look," he said, gesturing to deep space just beyond. One by one, the Ponds and River came to the door and gazed out. Before them was, as near as they could describe, a giant cloud of light. Yet even as they looked into the endless sea of light, they half-guessed that they saw a tiny pinprick of black: a dark spot on the bright center of the universe. Every time they saw that crack, they felt a sense of impending doom: whatever lay within that sea of light was not good, and it would devour them almost certainly.

"That's where we're going," the Doctor said. "Fortunately, it shouldn't be too long, depending on what you consider 'long.' Because space-time is in constant fluctuation, the distance between the Deep Core's main event horizon and Had Abbadon could be longer or shorter. Don't trust anything you see: the dark side is powerful the closer we get to the Center."

"Way couldn't we jus' land rayt on Had Abbadon?" Amy asked.

"TARDIS can't fly shift through the Deep Core," the Doctor said. "Going that fast, with all the space-time distortions, it might tear itself to pieces."

He shut the doors and ran back to the TARDIS consoles, gripping them tightly with both hands, then thrusting them forward. The last words out of his mouth were these:

"Geronimo!"

* * *

When the TARDIS hit the event horizon of the Deep Core, everyone inside felt it. The TARDIS jolted but remained on course: yet they distinctly felt that the Doctor was not fully in control of his TARDIS. They also became aware that there was something else inside the TARDIS. Waves of golden light floated and danced throughout the inside, and for a while, all seemed peaceful. But then the light became horrible to look at as the insides of the TARDIS shook violently, everything becoming blurred and distorted.

River, holding on to the TARDIS' console, saw the Doctor was gripping the controls firmly, and yet he was weeping. She crossed over to him and heard that he was also whispering names.

"Rose...Jackie...Pete...Mickey," he said. "Jack...no, Rose! Hold on! H...Martha! Master...Donna...River...Wilfred...no! No! I don't want to go!"

"Doctor, it's okay," River said, reaching out with her free hand to grasp the Doctor's.

Still onward they continued and River saw, by the expressions on the faces of the others, that they were experiencing similar horrors in their own mind. But what the Doctor was seeing she could not guess. All she could do was hold his hand, the Last Timelord, the lonely god, and keep him from losing his mind.

If she didn't lose hers first. Horrific images were passing through her own mind. She could see the faces of people she had not yet seen, horrible things in the deep reaches of the Outer Rim, the dark secrets of a desert planet she had never been to, and then, worst of all, she saw something worse. Before her mind flashed the only thing as horrible as it had been to watch herself murder the Doctor, unable to stop it at the cost of unraveling existence.

She saw the Master kill the Doctor, and she was unable to stop him.

Slowly, however, the TARDIS stopped quivering and slowly came to a halt. The lights disappeared and all seemed normal: too normal, in fact. There was nothing else sounding, just the throbbing of the TARDIS' engines coming to a halt. The silence was unnerving and every sound was a thousand times louder. Thus it was that the Doctor walked over to the door of the TARDIS, each footstep like the pounding of a drum, and the creaking open of the TARDIS' door like a screech.

"Here it is," the Doctor said grimly, looking out at the landscape beyond. "Had Abbadon."

Outside the doors of the TARDIS there loomed a bleak landscape of dry rock as far as the eye could see. There were so many suns in the sky that the world was in an eternal day, with the air dry and unbearably hot and the land horribly bright. Slowly they stepped out, blinking into the light of the many suns.

"So, then, Amy," the Doctor said, turning to the red-haired Scottish woman. "Where to next?"

"Theere's an Imperial fortress somewhere heere," she said. "Aye couldn't get a fix on its loocation. Something there's prevaentin' me from seeing where it's at."

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, and began scanning the area surrounding them. For a moment, it picked up something, then the green light faded.

"Doctor?" Rory asked.

"The sonic screwdriver just shut off," the Doctor mused. "That doesn't make any sense. I had the screwdriver, I didn't turn it off, but it's not responding."

The Doctor then cast his eyes skyward, pointing towards several black objects up in the sky.

"See that?" he said.

They turned their eyes up and saw what the Doctor had seen. In the sky they saw not one but at least three moons, but they were all the same kind: metallic, with a tiny rim around the equator and a crater-like indentation on the upper hemisphere.

"Is that the Death Star?" Rory asked.

"Death Stars," the Doctor continued.

"Dudn't thee only have one?" Amy said fearfully.

"They wanted us to believe they only had one," the Doctor said. "But think about it: twenty years between the rise of the Empire to when the first Death Star was made public, and then only four short years for the one on Endor to become almost 75% completed, and this one is bigger than the first one."

"Soo?" Amy queried.

"The Empire had more than one," the Doctor said. "Most of them were being moved in secret here, to Had Abbadon, to protect this planet."

"So what happens now?" Rory inquired.

"Well," the Doctor began. "We have to find the fortress before they find us. If my guess is correct, and it usually is, the Empire might be able to afford to lose a legion or so, even a tactically significant planet like this one. Whoever's commanding this fortress might be willing to have these Death Stars target the planet if they think we have the upper hand."

"But there's a garrison on thus planet! Would the Empire really have noo qualms about destroying their own people?" Amy asked incredulously.

"The Emperor was about to do it on Endor," River said. "I sensed his command above our heads during the battle."

"Yeah," Amy nodded. "But I dudn't hear much of it. Aye was too busy with the battle an' all."

"That's what we have to do," the Doctor said. "Because any one of those Death Stars can be sent into action almost instantly, and I can assure you there's more than three orbiting this planet. Imagine what destruction they could cause if unleashed _en masse_ upon the Rebellion. That's what we have to do here: keep that nightmare from ever happening."

"But how can four people destroy _three_ or more Death Stars?" exclaimed Rory.

* * *

**(AN: How indeed! Had Abbadon was a part of the original draft of _Star Wars_, even the multiple Death Stars thing [another reference to the fans consternation at how, from what they saw in the "Revenge of the Sith", the first Death Star took twenty years to finish while the second, larger one took only four years to become 75% finished and yet fully operational]. The time distortions are for real, and what we saw were some of [for River] the future and [for the Doctor] the past that hadn't happened yet. In short, the Eleventh Doctor in this fic has all the memories and experiences of all the things he "did" between "Boom Town" and "The Power of Three" but did not happen because of this fic.)**

**(Remember to review and leave questions as well as thoughts and such, because I WILL read them!)  
**


	29. Secrets of Had Abbadon

**(AN: I don't know how, but I had this dream once, a long time ago, about the heroes from Star Wars sometime before _Return of the Jedi_. They were inside this giant, metallic thing, like a fortress or maybe another Death Star, and there was a corridor at one end that was shining very brightly. I know, rather abstract, but I've got that in mind as I'm writing this, though that was somewhat fulfilled in _Shadows of the Empire_ when the heroes infiltrated the Imperial Palace on Coruscant.)**

**(I think, by now, you've realized, if you've read my stories, that I have lots of points where the characters are in a complete and dead silence. Well, I hate those moments. They're nerve-wracking, and you feel like something is about to explode loud and harsh and you don't want it to happen. To me, dead silence is more fearful than spooky noises.)  
**

* * *

**Secrets of Had Abbadon**

The party of the TARDIS walked on for what seemed like endless miles, compounded of course by the lack of water and the dryness of the place. Furthermore, as there was only day, it was scorching hot all the time, though the Doctor had told them that this was actually 'night' on Had Abbadon, and daylight out of doors would be unbearable. Even worse, the local weather was really taking a toll on their temper. Maybe it was only that, or there was something about this world and the weather combined that set them all off, but they responded easily in anger. After three or so encounters, the Doctor halted the group, turned about and addressed them.

"Listen," he said. "I know it's hot and dry and we couldn't land the TARDIS right on their doorstep, but please, try to stay calm. The dark side is strong on this planet, and you're just opening yourselves up to it with all of this anger."

They grumbled in agreement, then continued on their way across the desert. For a while it seemed as though they were going nowhere, but then it appeared, like a black spot on the horizon. There was something out there, rising above the flats of Had Abbadon, something that was man-made. They slowly made their way thither, but suddenly heard the roaring, whining sound of a TIE fighter's ion engines as one of them passed over head.

"I heete that sound!" Amy hissed, once the roar had vanished away overhead.

"We're getting close," River said. "Stay low."

True enough, they were indeed getting closer. Now they could see tiny white lights, faint and flickering, in the sky above the black spot. They continued getting closer, the air still and silent after the scout fighter had flown over their heads. But while they continued walking, they saw more and more of the tiny pinpricks of light.

"Doctor, wha' are thoose?" Amy asked.

"Ships, loads of them," the Doctor replied. "What we're seeing is the light reflecting off the hulls of dozens of ships."

"What kind of ships?" Rory asked. "They couldn't land a Stardestroyer on a planet, could they?"

"I'm not sure," the Doctor shook his head. "But I fear that we may have already been too late. Those ships are dropships, landers, personnel transports."

"Are thee evacuatin' the planet?" Amy asked, fear rising in her voice. "Does that mean..." She cast her eyes up, at the Death Stars orbiting the planet. Now, they half-guessed that they could see a dark semi-circle just edging its way over the horizon. Was there a _fourth_ one? And if the personnel were evacuating from the fortress, did that mean that the Empire no longer had any need of the planet?

"Doctor, can't we do something?" Rory asked again. "I mean, we've got the TARDIS. Can't we just call it over here and fly over the rest of the way?"

The Doctor did not answer, but continued on his way, with the others wearily falling in line behind him.

* * *

For two hours they walked, under the many suns of the Deep Core, with the Death Stars watching over them like many giant eyes, staring them down to their deaths. The black speck was now getting bigger and after a while it was no longer impossible to descry. It was now looming grand and massive before them: an Imperial fortress. It was made of dark durasteel, so dark that it looked black against the bright flats of the desert and the blinding night sky. There were high walls all about it, with many turbo-laser batteries upon the walls, and in the center of those walls was a great tower of massive girth. Ever and anon from that tower, _Lambda_ shuttles would depart _en masse_.

"Is that it?" River asked.

"Yes," the Doctor said, taking out his sonic screwdriver and scanning the area before the giant fortress. "Aha! There's your answer, Rory Williams."

"What?"

"But...that doesn't make any sense," the Doctor mused, his smile fading. "They were dead, all of them! Only they could have created something like this."

"What is it?" River inquired.

"It's a vortex shield," the Doctor said. "Like the ones they had on...Gallifrey."

"Gallifree?" Amy asked. "That's your hoome, usn't it?"

"Yes," the Doctor replied grimly. "The shield could prevent even a Type 40 TARDIS from materializing inside it. But how did the Empire get their hands on a vortex shield of this size? This is beyond even the Master's skill, he couldn't have taught them or shown them how to make one."

"So what do we do?" River asked again.

"We walk up to the front door and knock!" the Doctor smiled, then set off running towards the high wall.

"Weet, Doctor!" exclaimed Amy. "What about thoose turbo-laser turrets?"

"Their targeting systems aren't designated for individual targets," the Doctor explained. "It's how the Rebellion won the Battle of Yavin: Imperial turbo-lasers can blast down a capital ship, but they can't shoot infantry."

"Wouldn't they just have infantry cannons?" asked River.

"No worries, then," the Doctor said, aiming his sonic screwdriver ahead of them. "There! Any mines or turrets in a three kilometer radius around our entry-point have been disabled. Let's go, then."

The four figures set off running towards the wall. Just because the turbo-lasers were offline and any anti-infantry defenses directly in front of them were disabled, that did not exclude the possibility that they would be spotted on the wall and shot down. Scout troopers were authorized to use sniper rifles, and they knew not if any of them might be on the walls.

At last they reached the foot of the wall, out of breath and practically shivering. They had run that way in constant fear of being spotted or picked off from the sentries on the walls. Sure enough, as soon as they reached the wall, they could feel the ground slightly rumbling beneath their feet. The Doctor paid this no heed, for he was scanning the walls, looking for something.

"Aha!" he exclaimed. "Sewage tunnel. Rather than garbage compactors, the Empire must dump their waste here, outside their base."

"Way?" Amy asked.

"Because Had Abbadon is sacred ground, by both Jedi and Sith traditions," the Doctor said. "Legend has it that this was where the Timelords and the Whills first met, and where they learned from us the knowledge of the Force."

"Weet, Tamelords an' Wulls?" Amy asked. "Are ye sayin' yer people have been 'ere before?"

"Yes, long time ago," the Doctor rambled on. "They seeded the cosmos with Timelord-like races, which include the humans of this galaxy. But they didn't return, because they found the Ancient Order of the Whills, shaman who were open to our teachings and powerful enough to protect this galaxy. They taught them the ways of the Force and left the galaxy in good hands."

"Good hands?" Amy returned.

"Well, they haven't had anything as massive as the Last Great Time War," the Doctor said. "None of their races are as genocidal as the Daleks, not even the Empire. Ah!" He aimed his sonic screwdriver at the tunnel entrance, and it flung open. "Now, this will only take a minute."

"I don't think we have a minute, Doctor," River said. "Look."

They all turned around and with fear in their hearts saw the source of the trembling ground, which was now getting closer. The perimeter of the Imperial fortress was guarded by AT-STs in the distance and one large AT-AT, that was marching towards their location. Their laser cannons might not be accurate enough to hit them, but they could radio the AT-STs off their patrol, and _those_ would certainly hit them.

"Right," the Doctor said, turning back to the wall. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his new lightsaber, whose blade flashed a brilliant emerald.

"A late-seeber?" Amy asked. "But I thought ye dudn't use weepons."

"I don't," the Doctor replied. "But I'm not using this to kill people, I'm using it to give us an entrance." He stepped back and made three cuts in the heavy concrete base of the wall, then shut off his lightsaber. "There, now we can climb up to the sewage pipe and make our way into the base under their noses."

"Quickly!" River reminded them. "They're getting closer."

Sure enough, the large AT-AT, which seemed to be holding a steady course around the perimeter of the base had now stopped, turning its nose directly towards them. While no blasts came yet, they were fearful of what else might happen. Meanwhile, using the cuts the Doctor had made into the side of the wall as footholds, the companions climbed up the wall and into the sewage pipe.

"You might want to hold your nose when you get in there," the Doctor called out to Rory, who went first into the pipe.

"Brilliant," grumbled Rory.

One by one they climbed up into the pipe, with the Doctor coming up last. River's fears proved to be quite well grounded. As they were climbing up into the tunnel, the Doctor saw several AT-STs making their way towards them. As quickly as he could, he climbed up into the pipe and used his sonic screwdriver to seal the hatch behind them.

"There," he said, his voice reverberating off the cold, metal walls. "It should take them a while to get through that. Alright now, move along."

They made their slow way through the pipe, going steadily upward. It was so narrow that they had to crawl on their hands and knees, which meant that they all were soon smelling of sewage. It climbed up a good way, and then leveled off. About that point, they could see that it slowly went upward towards the end, where light flooded down upon them from the end of the tunnel.

"Almost there," Rory called back to them.

"Good," Amy sighed. "Thus us not one o'our beest adventures, Doctor."

"Well, it was either that or knock on the front door, literally," the Doctor called back from behind. They crawled on for a while, with the light obscured from the very end by reason of three full-grown people crawling through the tunnel. For one moment, there was a halt.

"Like what you see, sweetie?" River asked cheekily. She was the second to last in line and the Doctor was immediately behind her, and she was wearing tight-fitting black pants.

"Oh, please," the Doctor dismissed. "You may be my wife in some future, but..."

"Stop, I was just teasing," River dismissed. "Besides, it wouldn't be the first time."

"Quiet down, back there," Rory called back. "My God, if there's one thing a parent doesn't want to hear, it's his daughter flirting with her future husband."

"Ach, cut it out, Rory," Amy replied. "She's just takin' the mickey outta him."

"Still, we're almost at the top," Rory said. "If we're too loud, we'll be heard."

Their voices went down to a whisper as they continued the crawl. At last, however, Rory's shadow disappeared and they were flooded once more with light. Then Amy vanished, then River, then last the Doctor climbed out of the pipe. It terminated in a large circular room with narrow white lights coursing down the sides. It was gun-metal gray, like the interior of the Death Star, and felt just as lifeless. Once they were out and were cleaning themselves up as best they could, the Doctor began scanning the walls with his sonic screwdriver.

"Just as I thought," the Doctor said.

"What?" Amy asked.

"This tower, the centerpiece of the fortress, was built at least three hundred years ago," the Doctor began. "It's design is similar to that of the old Sith temples, predating the Last Sith War and the Rule of Two. New building, old design. But it serves as more than just a tower: it's also some kind of monument to the ancient Sith Empires and this Empire as well: meant to stand the test of time. It's the ultimate safe-house."

"Safe house?" Rory asked. "What would the Empire need to keep safe here? I thought Coruscant was the Imperial Center, the Capital, the hardest place in the Empire to attack."

"Yes, that is true," the Doctor continued. "Coruscant _was_ the capital of the Old Republic and when the transition took place, it remained the capital of the Empire. But it's more than just a safe place, they're digging for something _and_ holding something here as well."

"Holding?" Amy asked, looking frantically down the corridors. "What could thee be holding in here? Some kind a weepon?"

"Maybe," the Doctor said. "Although, if it were a weapon of equal or greater power to the Death Stars, why have so many around the planet? Defense, maybe, but as a last resort, possibly. To stop any from taking the weapon."

"But what kind of weapon?" Rory asked.

"Well, that's what we're here for," the Doctor smirked. "Now, I'm picking up strong reading on my sonic screwdriver about a mile beneath our feet. Let's go, but move quietly."

* * *

The Imperial fortress seemed deserted, for the Doctor and his companions met nothing as they went through the cold, durasteel halls. But they could not shake the feeling of watchfulness, that their approach and infiltration had been marked. Their feet echoed on the steel floor, their breath seemed very loud and noisome. Though the Doctor reminded them that they should always resort to lightsabers at the very last moment, all of them save the Doctor kept one hand on their lightsabers, hanging deactivated on their belts.

Down they went, down a flight of stairs, down a narrow passage with very little lighting, until they came to the main elevator shaft. The Doctor stood forward, used his sonic screwdriver on the door panel, then gestured for them to walk inside.

"Couldn't you have just used the panel?" Rory asked.

"It could be DNA-coded," the Doctor said. "Only certain types of people could have clearance to access it. None of you have cleared DNA and neither do I. We can't take that risk, not in the very heart of the Empire's fortress."

Inside the elevator, all they had for noise was the hum of the lift going down to the very bottom level. It was just as awful as the silence, but they remained calm and together. They had the Doctor with them, and he was not freaking out: they saw no reason to do adversely. But the silence was getting to them. They were getting too close, too deep into enemy territory. As the old proverb said, getting into a prison was easy, but getting out would be difficult. Though this might not have been made as a prison, it would certainly become one if they were discovered, which they feared almost every single moment.

Suddenly, the doors slid open with a loud clank, and they found themselves in a dark room, the walls throbbing ceaselessly with power coursing behind them. They slowly made their way into the room, guided by the dim light of the blue tanks lined up behind them against the back wall. Before them as well was a tall raised platform, accessed by a single stair-case. Beneath that were more blue tanks, which gave off faint fluorescence in the gloom.

"Doctor?" Rory asked, eying the tanks suspiciously. "What's in these tanks?"

The Doctor walked over to one, scanned it with his sonic screwdriver, and then slowly became grim.

"They're clones," he said. "All of them share the same DNA. But this is a rather small cloning facility for an army. This is more like a personal order of clones. But why? Why make so few?"

"Doctor," River said, her voice quivering. "Do you feel that?"

The Doctor halted, looked about, then made his way slowly up the stair-way onto the platform. When he reached the top, he froze almost instantly. River and the Ponds walked up behind him, wondering what it was that made the Doctor so afraid. It looked like a power pylon, which they had seen many of them on their way here. But instead of a blue light, it gave off a red glow and it seemed to be throbbing ever so softly.

"Doctor?" Amy asked. "What is it?"

"A paradox machine," the Doctor said, his small eyes wide with fear.

* * *

**(AN: Well, _that_ felt like it took forever! Well, it kind of did because of loads of homework, yibbledy yabbledy and all that. Well, the plot is indeed thickening! A paradox machine, inside an Imperial base! And clones! Whatever is happening!)**


	30. The Doctor's Plan

**(AN: You'll see soon enough. Omg, we're at the last chapter! There's so much I want to say, but I don't want to give it all away, or else reading the next one, _Revenge of the Master_, will be a bore with no new information.)  
**

* * *

**The Doctor's Plan**

"But that can't be!" exclaimed the Doctor. "They-they're supposed to be bigger, almost the size of the TARDIS!"

"Doctor, what's a paradox machine?" Amy asked.

"Ancient Timelord technology," the Doctor said. "Used to stabilize temporal paradoxes. But this is supposed to be outlawed by the Laws of Time. And how could the Empire have built it here? There's no way they had this kind of technology!"

Suddenly, the lights flickered on and there was a laugh sounding nearby. The Doctor turned about and froze. Standing there was a man, dressed all in black, with short, blond hair and a wicked gleam in his steel blue eyes.

"Hello again, Doctor," the Master said.

"Master?" the Doctor asked. "No, wait, wait, wait, wait! This can't be right. You're Darth Vader!"

"Vader is dead," the Master replied, then sneered at the Doctor. "But did you really think I would put all my trust in a weak, pathetic _human_? No, Doctor!"

"Get behind me," the Doctor whispered to his companions before turning to the Master. "So, by some jiggery pokery sleight of hand, you're now free of the Dark Lord of the Sith. Which, if I may, I think was a good choice. You and your proclivity for black cloaks, some might call it a fetish. Though, I'm glad you got rid of the beard, that whole Fu Manchu thing never worked in any time."

The Master said nothing, but simply glared the Doctor down with a look of pure spite.

"Listen," the Doctor continued. "Whatever your quarrel is, it's with me. Leave the people of this galaxy alone."

"I don't think so, Doctor," the Master shook his head. "It's far too...fun here! Besides, you should be right here, at my side as well. Or haven't you guessed? I've looked into the future. Have had a long time to do that: twenty-three years as the Dark Lord of the Sith gives you lot of time to think and ponder, and explore the future. You know, Doctor, as well as I do that if the Rebels win, there will be twenty-four years of disorder and chaos. Twenty-four years of the Imperial Remnant engaging the New Republic in petty border disputes. Then the creatures from the Void will come: they will have a much easier task of destroying this galaxy if it's divided. That's what you want, isn't it, Doctor? To help people?"

"Siding with the Empire is as despicable to me as siding with the Daleks," the Doctor replied. "Genocide, racial cleansing, rule through terror: that was never my way."

"But it has always been mine, Doctor," the Master replied with a smile. He turned about and walked over to the edge of the platform, by a computer console. "But, unfortunately, Starkiller was right." He turned back to them, placing one hand on a lever of the console. "You're too late to stop me."

"What are you doing?" the Doctor queried.

"Let's find out, shall we?" the Master mocked, throwing the lever.

Below, the sound of machinery moving could be heard. The blue tubes below were filling with moving bubbles, and a broad smile split the Master's face.

"Kaminoan and Spaarti cloning technology," he said. "I've taken the best of both techniques and perfected the limitless creation of an army..." He paused, looking directly into the Doctor's eyes.

"...of Sith."

The Doctor shook for a moment, but did not quail. Below, meanwhile, the clones had been ejected from their pods and were now rising up, clothing themselves in the black robes that had been provided for them in a small compartment beneath their birthing canisters. The Ponds and River turned about to face the clones, hands gripping their lightsabers.

"Yes, Doctor," sneered the Master. "Let your puppets fight your battles for you, while you and your precious nonviolence get to sit on the sidelines and watch them die. Not today!" The Master removed from his belt a small black cylinder, which sprang to life with a meter-long red blade. "Fight me, Doctor, or lay down and die at my hand."

Reluctantly, the Doctor reached into his jacket and pulled out his lightsaber, which sprang to life in a brilliant flash of green. The Master lunged forward, but the Doctor parried his blow. The two now circled each other, lightsabers humming and ready for attack.

"I like this body!" the Master commented. "I'm much faster than Vader." He struck at the Doctor, who parried the blow.

"Just a moment," the Doctor began. "Since I'm about to die and everything, mind if you answer a few questions of mine?"

"Yes, I do!" the Master shouted, attacking the Doctor in a flurry of blows. But the Doctor was quick and deflected them all.

"Why do you need a paradox machine?" the Doctor asked.

"Do you take me for a fool?!" the Master roared, pushing the Doctor off his feet with the Force. The Doctor flew back, striking the platform's rail hard.

"Yes, actually," the Doctor exclaimed, rising up from the blow, massaging his back a little. "Or insane. Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Pretty much sums you up in a nutshell." He parried three strikes from the Master. "You show up, hatch some sinister plot to destroy me, I stop you." Blocked another blow. "You come back, try the same thing, expecting that now you've got the final answer to destroy me."

"And what shall we say of _you_, Doctor?" the Master shouted, swinging his lightsaber with both hands at the Doctor's neck, but missing the mark as the slender, emerald blade blocked his. "You whore yourself and your TARDIS among these stupid humans, begging and scraping for companionship..." He struck at the Doctor, and their blades clashed together, raining sparks upon the floor. "...when you know that it will only end in separation, isolation. See? That's what makes me stronger than you: I embrace solitude, I grow stronger by it! You? You're nothing without your precious companions!" They broke and circled each other once again. "Who's truly insane now, Doctor?"

"I think we both are," the Doctor commented.

* * *

When the Master spoke of an army of cloned Sith, the Ponds and River turned back to the blue tubes they had seen and now witnessed the eight canisters on the back wall start up the waking process. While the Master and the Doctor quarreled, River organized her parents.

"Come on," she said. "There are more cloning tanks beneath this platform. We have to destroy them."

She reached into her belt and pulled out both lightsabers, activating them blue and green at her sides, then went to work on the cloning tubes beneath the platform. Behind her, Amy and Rory went to work destroying the others as well. They made quick work of those below, for the Doctor and the Master were now engaged in a lightsaber duel above their heads and were thus distracted. River instructed her parents to destroy the cloning tubes completely, not just the clones. If the clones were destroyed and the vats unharmed, they could continue producing more: for these cloning tanks were working faster than any they had seen.

Suddenly, however, a cloaked figure appeared between the Ponds and River. They turned to the figure, aiming their lightsabers at it, but suddenly discovered that their hands were moving outside of their own command. They, all of them, shut off their lightsabers against their will.

"This is not your fight," a friendly-sounding voice said from under the hood. It sounded British. The hands reached up and removed the hood to reveal an elderly man with a sad smile on his face. It was like a parent, having found an erring child, thankful to have found them but ruing the inevitable.

"Please, you have been misled," the old man said to them. "This insignificant Rebellion has led you astray with their empty promises and propaganda." He held out a hand to them. "Let me help you, and together we shall end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy."

For a moment, his words hung over their heads, and they swayed on their feet, as though in a spell. But it was Rory who stirred first, rather than Amy, the Girl Who Waited, or River, the Doctor's wife.

"And how do we know _you're_ not trying to mislead us as well?" he asked. But he was surprised, as were Amy and Rory, by how ignorant and uncouth his words sounded: but more so, that they sounded thus in his own ears.

"You must trust me," the old man said with a smile.

"This place is a haven of the dark side," Rory continued. "Why should we trust you?"

"Why should you believe this place is of the dark side at all?" asked the old man. "Has not your beloved Doctor told you not to believe in such antiquated notions of good and evil?"

"Doon't lusten, Rory," Amy suddenly said. "Sumthin' doesn't feel rayt."

"Why did you turn our lightsabers off?" Rory asked, eying the old man suspiciously.

"You no longer need those," the old man said, and Rory caught a hint of a smile as he eyed them all one by one.

"But we need them to destroy these clones," Rory replied.

"Destroying life before it has the chance to prove its innocence?" asked the old man. "Is that the way of the Jedi?"

Slowly, however, Rory began to move his hand against the invisible will that was forcing his hand to keep it off. But suddenly, they saw the expression of the old man shift from disappointment to rage.

"Release me!" Rory said. "And I'll think about listening to you."

"I'm afraid that's entirely out of the question," the old man said.

Suddenly, Rory's lightsaber sprang to life. But before it could move, another red lightsaber clashed with it. Faster than they could see, Rory was pushed off his feet and the old man, cloaked and hooded once more, strode slowly towards him, lightsaber clutched in his claw of a hand. But his concentration had been broken by the breech caused by Rory and the others were now free. The blue of Amy's lightsaber caught the old man's lightsaber, while the dark shadow moved fast to bring down the young man. Two more blades stopped the red one: one green and another blue. The old man pulled back his lightsaber and readied himself for attack. River, Amy and Rory rose up and stood their ground, lightsabers firmly in hand. But, to their surprise and dismay, they saw that the old man was not alone. In fact, they guessed rightly as they tried to stop him from striking Rory, that he was much more powerful than any Jedi: maybe even more powerful than the Doctor. And now eight of them were raising their crimson lightsabers to the attack.

* * *

"Aha!" the Doctor exclaimed after a grand strike of the Master's had been harmlessly parried. He pointed his blade in the direction of the Master, as though he were a teacher and the Master an errant pupil. "Your thoughts betray you, Master. You're raging, practically fuming up inside. You can't understand how a simpering slave boy from Tatooine got the best of you, the Master."

The Master struck, but the Doctor was gauging his opponent, easily parrying the hasty moves.

"Your prattle is meaningless, Doctor," the Master sneered. "I, who have gone farther than any on the dark road to immortality, cannot be defeated, and I _will_ not be defeated. Not by some sobbing slave and his misguided son, and certainly not by you."

The two halted for a moment, eyes trained on each other: the Master and the Doctor. Their lightsabers hummed idly in their hands, for neither of them were striking. Instead, they were engaged in a mental duel as well as a physical one. Both of them, as Timelords, were able to tap into the Force to sense the thoughts of the other, but both were also able to control their minds and keep their thoughts from being tapped.

"You're good, Doctor," the Master said. "But I've always been able to defeat you..." He smiled. "And now, it is _your_ thoughts that betray you. You care greatly for your companions." He closed his eyes, and suddenly the Doctor heard lightsabers clash below their feet.

"A choice, Doctor," the Master continued. "Below your feet are the clones of the most powerful Sith in the galaxy: the Emperor himself." The Doctor's tiny eyes swelled to double their size in shock at this revelation. "You and I both know that, no matter how much you teach them, your companions will never be strong enough to face him. So here is your choice, Doctor: try to kill me and let them die, or save them and let me escape, and I _will_ escape, and then I will return, stronger than ever, and you will die."

"You brought back the Emperor?" the Doctor asked.

"It was his idea all along," the Master continued. "Oh, this fortress was just a start. He has cloning centers on numerous systems: already battalions of Dark Side warriors, clones of himself, of his most trusted - the Inner Circle and other more powerful ones - have been dispatched to the far reaches of the galaxy to face the Rebellion. Do you see? You've already lost."

And so the Doctor was brought once again to a stand-still. Once more he was faced with an awful decision: kill the Master or save River and the Ponds.

"Why are you telling me all this now?" the Doctor asked.

"Quit stalling!" the Master roared, and held out one hand towards the Doctor. Bolts of blue lightning arced through the sky, coming to contact with the Doctor's hand mere centimeters away from his body. The bolts lanced about his body, but none of them touched him. The storm slowly abated.

"You know they stand no chance against the Emperor," the Master continued. "Besides, I know you can't land your TARDIS inside the vicinity of the fortress. You're trapped, Doctor: now make your choice while it's still yours to make."

The Doctor looked back and saw River engaged with one of the Emperor's clones. Even with two lightsabers, she was not fast enough to defeat the shadow with its blood-red blade. She was losing ground faster than she could gain it, while the shadow was getting ominously closer and closer. She leaped up on top of one of the cloning tanks on the far side of the room, then slashed it open when the darkness leaped after her. Now she was on the catwalks above the Doctor's head, clashing against a foe beyond any of them. The Doctor could see just how much of River's strength was being taxed by the shadow's blows: she could barely hold up her lightsabers. Now she was backed up against, arms hanging helplessly at her side. The shadow's blade vanished, but his empty hands were raised up, poised to strike.

Calling upon the Force, the Doctor leaped up onto the catwalk, placing himself immediately between the clone and River, absorbing the entire blast of Force lightning with his own body. Not a cry or groan of pain did he let out, not until the clone let down his white, withered hands: then the Doctor fell into River's arms, weak from the torrents of lightning.

"You stupid, silly man!" River shook her head. "Are you mad?"

"I'd like to think so," the Doctor replied.

Suddenly, the catwalk jerked forward. The clone leaped off and back down to the floor, while the catwalk detached itself from the ceiling and was suddenly thrown into the side of the wall. The Doctor and River were thrown about, barely catching themselves on the steel-hard railing which left both of them bruised.

"Wait, you're alright!" River said, noticing the Doctor's face. There were no scars. In fact, though he had absorbed enough that would kill a normal man, he was still alive.

"It's an old Jedi battle technique," the Doctor said. "Remind me to learn it when you go ba..."

But he was interrupted in mid-sentence as the catwalk was heaved against the other wall. Then suddenly it was crushed together and fell to the floor with a deafening clang of metal on metal. Both of the Ponds stared in horror at what they feared was the end of their daughter. She didn't have any regenerations left, she had used all of them to save the Doctor from her own poison back in Germany. As for the Doctor, though she knew from what had happened at Jabba's Palace, she didn't know if he were capable of doing that again.

Suddenly, the crumbled catwalk broke apart with a sudden blast of Force and out walked both River Song and the Doctor: weary but alive, shaken but still standing.

"So you've made your choice, coward," the Master sneered from the platform.

"Any day," the Doctor said, turning to the Master. "For them."

"No, for yourself," the Master replied. "And you have failed once again." He turned his gaze to the control console on the far-side of the platform and gestured to it with his hand. Suddenly the walls started to part and they were all struck with a great heat. Rippling waves of heat seemed to melt their very eyes, forcing them to close them.

"Didn't you know, Doctor?" the Master taunted. "The lowest level of this temple is built in the heart of a volcano. I've just dropped the shields on the lowest level: this one. By one way or by another, you're a dead man, Doctor."

"Keep them busy," the Doctor muttered to River.

"Well, that's a little easier said than done!" she hissed back.

"Don't worry," the Doctor said. "A few more minutes and we'll be well on our way out of here."

With that, the Doctor ran up the stairs and now was facing the Master once again, with the paradox machine between them. The Doctor did not ignite his saber just yet, for his eyes were scanning the layout of the paradox machine, trying to discern which controls shut down the shield generator. If they could get that down, then calling the TARDIS to their rescue would be a no-brainier. He began, with lightsaber still offline, to press levers and buttons on the console of the paradox machine.

"What are you doing?" the Master asked.

"Ah, spoilers," the Doctor smirked.

"There's one thing you've forgotten."

"And what's that?"

"You may be a Timelord, and you may have the Force," the Master said. "But not even you can do four things at once." Another blast of Force lightning was sent towards the Doctor from the Master's open hand. The Doctor crumbled: whether by reason of the blast or because of the repressive, Dark Side atmosphere of Had Abbadon, he could not rise again, not yet. The Master made his way towards him slowly, savoring the kill to come. The red lightsaber ignited and he gloated over his prey.

"You like Darwin, don't you, Doctor?" the Master said. "Well, how does it feel when he comes back to bite you in the arse? Survival of the fittest: looks like your luck's run out!"

The Master raised his lightsaber back, ready to lunge it through the Doctor's first heart, remove it swiftly then jab it into the second heart. He raised the blow back, lunged forward...

Then suddenly came to a halt as a blade of crimson struck through his stomach. The Doctor looked behind him and exclaimed happily. Standing there, grim-faced as ever, was Rory, his lightsaber imbedded in the Master. But the Master still had his hand to play. Focusing his Force powers, he shut off Rory's lightsaber, turned about and pushed him back across the room.

"Rory!" Amy shouted, then disengaged the clones to run to his side.

"Do you think _this_ will stop me?" the Master roared, turning towards the Ponds. He made his way towards them, lightsaber ready as though he would strike them down, but he moved slowly and his face was stretched with pain. He put one foot in front of the other slowly, lumbering towards them like a giant ready to fall.

But the Doctor was using this distraction to its fullest. Reaching out with the Force, he pulled the last lever, then jumped up and activated his own lightsaber. Suddenly, around the paradox machine, the sound of whirring was heard as a blue box was materializing into the fortress.

"What trickery is this?" the Master demanded, halting for a while.

"Mine, actually," the Doctor returned. "And you're right, Master. _They_ couldn't have taken on the Emperor: but _you_ did. So, if you ever survive this, good luck explaining to what's left of the Inner Circle how the Emperor's clones all died at _your_ hand." He smiled, then walked over to the door of the TARDIS. Amy and Rory ran after him, with River jumping in at the very end. The last words the Master said before the TARDIS' door was closed were these: "I'll be back, Doctor."

* * *

High above Had Abbadon the TARDIS re-materialized. All of them were panting and breathing, while the Doctor, meanwhile, was getting ready to land the TARDIS.

"Alright," he said. "Pay attention, because I'm only going to say this once. There are about half a dozen Death Stars orbiting this planet. We cannot allow them to leave the system. We could use the Force to make them crash into each other, or the planet, the latter of which I will _not_ have: destroying one planet is too many for me. So, we'll have to find a way to destroy them _in_ orbit. River? Once we're clear, we'll set her down somewhere and then you get ready to le..."

The Doctor suddenly halted, turning around slowly to see Amy Pond, sitting down with her eyes closed. Without asking her what she was doing, for he could feel it, he ran to the TARDIS' door and threw it open. Just outside he could see one of the Death Stars breaking apart. A third of it had been torn off, leaking metal, atmosphere and dead Imperials into the vacuum, while the rest of it was plummeting down towards the planet.

"No!" the Doctor exclaimed, turning to Amy, shaking her out of her meditative state. "Amy! What have you done?"

"He was trayin' te kill Rory," she replied. "Besaydes, now the fortress is buried: the Master is gone and his cloines as wail."

"Do you realize what you've done?" the Doctor asked. "Six hundred thousand people killed instantly."

"Aye dud it for ye, Doctor." Amy said. "An' for Rory."

"This was never what I wanted!" the Doctor shouted. "Don't you see?"

"Aye doin't have te lusten te thus," Amy dismissed, walking away from the Doctor.

The Doctor turned away, back to the console of the TARDIS. Rory, of course, took the side of his wife while River walked over to his side.

"She's heard the stories of what you've done," she said.

"I never wanted her to become like me," the Doctor replied. "That already happened with Rose, but I didn't want to corrupt her."

"She made her own choice, Doctor," River stated. "Even you would respect that."

"But that seems to be the only way to keep these Death Stars from leaving the system," the Doctor said. "Unless..." He turned back to her. "Unless you can destroy them before they're ever built. River, it's time."

"No, wait, what?" she asked.

"River Song," the Doctor said, a smile creeping onto his face. "You are about to become the savior of so many. I know you've had your doubts and fears about this, but you have to go, don't you see? If you don't go, I won't exist."

River sighed. "If it's what you want, sweetie..."

"Of course not," the Doctor dismissed. "I don't want to throw you into harm's way, but you know that you won't be in harm."

"Why?"

The Doctor turned to the TARDIS' console, aside which sat the paradox machine.

"How is that here?"

"When I dropped the shields around the fortress," the Doctor began. "I materialized the TARDIS right around it: it's ours now. We'll pilot the TARDIS someplace safe, then you can take her away and do what needs to be done. Will you do that, Doctor Song?"

She nodded furiously, but her eyes bespoke how sad she truly was: now she would be going on another adventure, but alone. She had been alone before, but in this universe, now with the threat of so many Sith clones about the galaxy. What would happen if she failed?

"Good," the Doctor said, not reading her emotions. "Now, a few pointers before we go. Don't take any of my bollocks. As I said, I won't know you yet so I won't trust you. Do you have the old sonic screwdriver?" River pulled it out of her trouser pocket. "Good, that may come in handy. Oh, one more thing. Find Rory a lightsaber. He just saved my life and I haven't thanked him! But he won't if he doesn't have a proper lightsaber."

"Oh, shut up, you!" River sobbed, grabbing the Doctor by his lapels and kissing him.

"Wow!" the Doctor exclaimed as they parted. He then held one hand up and shouted: "Right! Next stop, Endor. We've got a party to crash."

"Wha? Partee?" Amy asked.

"Victory party," the Doctor added. "The Emperor's dead, the Empire's crippled, it's time to celebrate!"

Moments later, as the Doctor activated the TARDIS, the whirring was heard and then all was silent. The Doctor ran to the door and flung it open. It was night-time on Endor, but the forests were dotted with little camp-fires of the Ewoks as they celebrated their new-found freedom. The Doctor and the Ponds stepped out into the night, while River lingered in the door. The Doctor turned about.

"You'll have to leave now," he said. "As good a time as any."

"Will I see you again?" she asked.

"Oh, I will _definitely_..."

"Shh!" River hushed, placing one finger on the Doctor's lips. "Spoilers." She winked, then closed the TARDIS' door behind her. The Doctor, meanwhile, ran back to the Ponds.

"Listen, Amy," the Doctor said. "I didn't mean to snap. I just don't want you to become something like me."

"Ut's alrayt." she dismissed. She and Rory were now sitting on the edge of a hill, watching the fires and the X-wings in the sky, delivering their payload of fireworks.

"Well done, I should say," the Doctor said, squeezing himself in between Rory and Amy. The two Ponds looked across at each other and rolled their eyes. "Rory, you brought down the Master! That's no ordinary feat: oh, and you saved me in the process!"

"Well, I figured, you're alright," Rory admitted.

"Ha!" the Doctor ruffled Rory's hair. "I knew you'd come around." He then turned to watch the fires below and the fires above.

"Soo, where are we off te nayxt?" Amy asked.

"I don't know," the Doctor said, scratching his chin. "Hey, how about America? We rarely go to America, how about that?"

"That sounds brilliant," Rory said.

"Yeah," Amy added. "But wheere? Aye mean, America's rather bug, ye knoo."

"How about New York, 2012?" the Doctor suggested. "I hear it's great this time of year."

Behind them, the sound of the TARDIS dematerializing was faint and distant over the song of the Ewoks below. Victory!

* * *

**(AN: Lol, you can see what is going to happen soon. But, for now, we have a victory.)**

**(Obviously, we'll go on and do the prequels in _Revenge of the Master_, and I think we've obscured enough facts [hopefully] to make things still interesting.)  
**

**(Amy burying the Imperial fortress on Had Abbadon with part of one of the Death Stars was something I decided that had to happen. After watching season 5 and a good deal of season 7 and 6, I've come to the conclusion that Amy really doesn't ever make mistakes or fail. Now most of you would probably argue that a lot of the female companions in _Doctor Who_ could be classified as Mary Sues, but I wouldn't think so. Rose is not perfect, neither is Donna: in fact, the most Mary Sue of all characters is Oswin Oswald [whom I refer to as Dalek girl or, recently, Mary Sue Dalek]. Amy had to do something impulsive, something morally questionable. And, of course, she doesn't feel compelled to answer to the Doctor because in SO many instances, she's always outwitted the Doctor, out-reasoned him and, sometimes, even called the shots ["A Town Called Mercy"]. Sorry if my rant offended you, but it needed to be said.)  
**

**(Crap! I went through a whole set of _Star Wars_ without saying the one-liner that they so often say! Well, that will be addressed in the new one.)  
**


End file.
